Go to content Go to navigation Go to search

June 08, 2007

Aid Pledges at Summit Mislead, Charities Say

The Group of 8 summit, a coalition of leading industrial nations, has pledged $60-billion to fight poverty, AIDS, and other diseases — but most of that money stems from old promises that haven’t been fulfilled, reports Reuters.

Summit leaders from the United States, China, South Africa, France, and other countries touted the large figures. Activists, such as Oxfam and the Stop AIDS Campaign, counter that the aid packages include just $3-billion in fresh cash and that countries made the same promises in a summit at Glenagles, Scotland, in 2005, but have done little since.

The Irish rock star and poverty crusader Bono, said “I think it is deliberately the language of obfuscation. It is deliberately misleading.”

Summit leaders portrayed the announcement as public acknowledgment that they would fulfill pledges.

Friday June 8, 2007 | Permalink

Comments

1. This article addresses an issue that gets little coverage. How well do governments honor their freely given commitments to provide aid? It is easy to say but the money still needs to be appropriated and a mechanism needs to be in place to provide results.
   I suspect if one were to look at actual and anticipated disasters or crisis areas over the past five years, one would find a much higher rate of pledge delivery by the NGO community than that of governments.

   — John C McGee    Jun 11, 03:04 PM    #

Commenting is closed for this article.

Previous: Bill Gates Urges Harvard Graduates to Grow Into Activists
Next: Well-Meaning Volunteers Strain Katrina Charities

---

Copyright © 2009 The Chronicle of Philanthropy