Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)
4 July 2008
Rome — Catholic development organisations have asked leaders of the world's leading industrial nations meeting in Japan next week to salvage their reputation on aid and help millions out of poverty.
Caritas Internationalis, the umbrella organisation for 162 national Catholic charities, said that the G8 leaders must use their summit in Japan to meet pledges to help developing countries attain the Millennium Development Goals.
Leaders from Canada, Italy, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, the UK and the US meet 7-9 July in Hokkaido, Japan with progress on development and climate change on the agenda.
Total aid fell by 8.4 percent in 2007 in comparison with 2006, after a fall of 5.1 percent between 2005 and 2006. Aid is having an impact, but a predicted short fall of 27 billion dollars will put a potential 5 million lives at risk, Caritas said.
The umbrella organisation fears that failure to see through previous G8 aid pledges will be compounded with more backtracking as the global economy falters.
The head of Caritas Internationalis Delegation at the UN in New York, Joseph Cornelius Donnelly, will be at the G8 in Japan to join Caritas Japan in campaigning for action.
"The G8 will be guilty of all they didn't do on poverty if they fail to live up to past commitments," Donnelly said.
"There are a billion people without access to basic needs such as clean water, health care, a daily meal or education. Many live on less than a dollar a day. Ending this scandal of poverty in a world of such wealth must be the
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