Irish bishops urge G8 leaders to fulfil aid promises

GERMANY:The Irish bishops have written to German chancellor Angela Merkel in her capacity as chair of the G8 summit, calling on her to ensure promises are kept to reduce poverty in the developing world.

The leaders of the Group of Eight leading industrial countries are meeting for the 33rd G8 summit in Heiligendamm, a seaside resort on the Baltic coast, from tomorrow until Friday.

When the G8 leaders met in Gleneagles, Scotland, last year, they made commitments to cancel the poorest countries' debts to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, to increase aid by $50 billion (€37 billion) by 2010, and to negotiate a trade deal that would help African nations in particular.

At the weekend, Bishop Raymond Field, chairman of the Irish Commission for Justice and Social Affairs, along with other members of the commission, handed a letter in to the German embassy in Dublin. The letter tells Dr Merkel that the bishops are "deeply concerned at the scope of debt relief and at the disappointing trends on aid".

They say in the letter that "while the existing debt relief is welcome, it is not a comprehensive or sustainable solution to the debt crisis".

They point out that a UN report last year found that debt burdens had decreased, but for many countries even the reduced repayment levels were too high.

"Debt repayments from impoverished countries continue to deny the people of Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific their rights to essential goods and basic services, job security, independence and autonomy, a healthy environment and sustainable use of ecological resources," they write.

They urge the chancellor to call on the other G8 leaders to:

set out a clear timetable for doubling aid by 2010 and for each G8 country to commit to spending 0.7 per cent of gross national product on aid by 2015;

ensure that aid is delivered in a predictable and transparent manner;

ensure that aid is not conditional on the buying of goods and services from donors;

ensure parliaments and citizens in poor countries have a say in how aid is spent;

take steps to fight corruption, including preventing tax havens being used to shelter the proceeds of corruption, and prosecuting companies from G8 countries that engage in corrupt practices in developing countries.

Bishop Field said it was also essential that debt cancellation was not used as a substitute for aid. In 2005, he said, $14 billion in debt cancellation for Iraq and Nigeria was counted as aid, even though it did not deliver any new resources to these countries.

He said there were substantial shortfalls in aid and, though the G8 leaders promised to increase aid by $50 billion per year and to double the share of aid to Africa, in 2006 global aid fell by 5 per cent to $103 billion and aid to Africa remained static.

"Meanwhile, annual global military spending reached $824 billion last year," he said.

Some 5,000 children die every day as result of drinking dirty water, he added. "This is intolerable in a world of plenty. This week the G8 countries have a golden opportunity to set down concrete plans to deliver on the promises made in Gleneagles. In doing so, such plans would have the potential to lift millions out of poverty."

Bishop Field said it was "high time" richer nations stopped "backsliding on commitments".