merkel's moment...

is the title of our G8 report. When ActionAid drafted it we were still optimistic that we can interpret this title positively as the German Chancellor could make use of this years G8 summit to crucially deliver on HIV/AIDS promises the heads of G8 announced already in 2005. However, latest information from government officials indicate that several G8 countries, including Italy and Canada, are blocking the negotiations. Crucially, G8 leaders want to water down the univerals treatment target from treating 10 million people by 2010 to only come up with enough money to cover 5 million people. Faced with 8.000 HIV deaths daily the G8 enter the league of shame.

wie du mir, so ich dir

The G7 Finance Ministers are meeting today and tomorrow in Potsdam - all but the US Finance Ministers. I wonder whether this is pay back time as his German fellow missed out on the last G7 meeting that took place in Washington in April. Mr. Steinbrueck had a jolly good time in Namibia where he has been on holiday at the time of the meeting. I have been to Namibia myself, working and living there for almost a year, so do have a passion for the country myself...but hey as the current chair I would have reconsidered my priorities. But then, they are talking hedge fonds yet again instead of a funding plan to HIV/AIDS. Glad there is ActionAid who is doing the math and calculating that annual spending on HIV and Aids to the developing world needs to triple, if G8 countries are to meet the historic Gleneagles commitment of prevention, treatment and care for all who need it by 2010. The funding plan tells you all the details http://www.actionaid.org.uk/doc_lib/g8_funding_plan.pdf

It is getting tough

German Police Conduct Raids on Militant Anti-G8 Protestors
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evv4psIfo9lg6I0
German police launched raids in six northern states Wednesday
amid fears that left-wing radical groups were plotting attacks
to disrupt a G8 summit in June on the country's Baltic coast.

Groups from attac to members of the Green Party put out press releases condemning the police raids emphasising the right for civil but anti G8 protest.

The air is getting thinner less than four weeks before the summit...

"civil G8 better in moscow than in bonn"

I am telling you this quote is true! I participated in the Civil G8 dialogue last week in Bonn and it wasn't only me who felt a bit irritated by this event and so a fellow frustrated foreign participant came up with the conclusion that "the Civil G8 in Moscow was better than the one in Bonn". As I did not participate in Moscow I cannot provide a comparative analysis but can only share what caused my irritation regarding process and content.

If you have the chance to put 300 civil society representatives into a room with the G8 sherpas discussing the G8 agenda, how many of them do you think are men? Yes, plenty of them - old and wise they may be but not wise enough to be more democratic or transparent or gender balanced than any of the institutions they are criticising.

If you are about to discuss the G8 agenda entitled "growth and responsibility" with section 1 focusing on investment, innovation and sustainability and section 2 focusing on Africa's growth and responsibility linked to good governance, sustainable investment, peace and security and the fight against HIV/AIDS, how much "air-time" and African representative would you then expect in comparison to climate change as sub-theme of section 1. Yes, plenty of airtime should be devoted to the ever marginalised continent but the wise and old men put Africa to the margin of the agenda.

The Civil G8 dialogue was simply not much of dialogue - not only because the representative of the industry (note industry as part of civil society!?) left before the round table discussion finished - not only because government representatives sticked to the very same formula and phrases despite listening (?!) to many concerns put forward - also because the representative of the Italian NGO platform besides being invited to speak at the roundtable did not get the chance at all to speak before the facilitator closed the session.

Content-wise I am best sticking to my area of expertise - we got some good sound bites on HIV/AIDS but don't expect much more than sound bites and for sure do not expect that the G8 government will keep its promises to come "as close as possible to universal access to treatment for all those who need it by 2010" besides repeated prayers by German government officials to ensure exactly this. It doesn't go any further than "we don't forget about past promises" but there is no single indicator of G8 governments coming up with a funding plan on when the promised money will actually be paied. This in fact might be the very reason why "HIV must always be kept on the agenda" - rightly & unfortunately so, as currently G8 government representatives are tiring us with rethoric but no action. I am sure many of the 40 million HIV positive people would happily be moving on and getting onto ARV (anti-retroviral) treatment. As the German government representative insisted on local activities being the driving force in fighting the pandemic he may want to look at the link below to see what local activities in countries across the world did look like last year during the Global Week of Action Against AIDS: http://www.ungass.org/index.php/en/ungass/archives/global_aids_week_of_action/recap_gwa2006

It will happen again, kickstarting May 20th and at the G8 summit two weeks later it is time for governments to honour these fascinating local activities & demands, this energy and hope. The world can't wait http://www.yourvoiceagainstpoverty.org.uk/

April's fool

The DAC figures that have been released last week show that all G8 countries but UK and Germany are failing to deliver promised aid to poor countries in the year post the Gleneagles summit. It seems like a late April's fool story that after all the fuss around the 2005 summit rich countries can just get away with decreasing their aid but crying out loud on their commitment to and partnership with Africa.
In comparison to 2005, it is pretty calm in Germany with regard to the G8. Slowly it seems journalists are picking it up and government...? Well, Africa is on the agenda but what more can I say - Wiezoreck-Zeul is committed for sure. If the 1999 G8 summit in Cologne was about debt, 2007 will be about financing for HIV/AIDS, she said in a recent meeting with NGO representatives. It would be a great success for all of us if a universal funding plan for HIV/AIDS would become her legacy and the legacy of this year's summit. But more work and persuasion is needed directed at the Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck. He might be a Social Democrat on paper but we are yet awaiting a true indicator for an uptake of social issues in his agenda. In a video message to Steinbrueck Inviolata Mmbwavi, an HIV positive woman who coordinates NEPHAK (the National Empowerment Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Kenya) supports ActionAid effort to persuade the Finance Minister on this matter. As much as Inviolata shares Germany’s conviction that Africa’s future rests on revitalizing economic growth, she also knows from experience that this is unachievable unless access to treatment and support becomes a reality for the 25 million Africans living with HIV/AIDS.

Fence it

I have been away to Heiligendamm over the weekened to get an idea of the area - well as far as i could get. as you can see from picture above roads leading to Heiligendamm are blocked at the moment. I went to Rostock too, to check out the accommodation I booked online for my ActionAid colleagues to come here later in June and last but not least to look at the fence I mentioned earlier. This is what it looks like! They are still in the middle of constrution - later on cameras will also be added. I dared to google pictures from the former GDR to get a comparison - you may want to do so yourself.

cheers ladies

it is five to noon - well by the time this blog is written it is past midnight - and then it is our day - international women's day. Let's call upon Chancellor Angela Merkel to show us what's in it for women's rights during the double presidency of the EU and the G8. Today, more than 100 organisations launched a new campaign "women won't wait" which sheds light on the vicious circle of violence against women & girls and HIV/AIDS. If one reads that young women account for 76% of all new HIV infections in Sub-Saharan Africa then for sure we can't wait any longer - we should not and we must not, as Mary Robinson said in her remarks at the launch event. Indeed, actions are needed - i guess it's Merkels turn just now.

yet again, good night and good luck

Making the most of a Friday evening...

I went to see Jeffrey Sachs who gave a talk titled "Making the most of the Heiligendamm G8 Summit". A successful G8 summit for him this year is about timetables and funding plans being delivered. It is about implementing existing commitments instead of adding new promises, is the mantra of his talk.

His focus is on the 2005 G8 promise to double aid to Africa to at least US$ 50bn in 2010 while hardly any attention is paid by Sachs to the crucial G8 commitment: achieving universal access to prevention, treatment and care for all people with HIV and AIDS also by 2010. UNAIDS estimates that this year alone approximately US$ 8bn are needed!

For Sachs, all this is fundamentally an economic problem and not a challenge to a G8's budget but a challenge to decency. He provides a figure indicating the 20hrs of US pentagon spending is sufficient to combat malaria.

Missing this years opportunity to follow through on very practical steps as an action plan that outlines which G8 country increase its official development assistance on which date relates to the summit being meaningless, according to Sachs - for sure something that Chancellor Merkel is trying to prevent. The cost of not delivering is economically as well as politically not viable.

But don't get me wrong - it wasn't my best Friday evening.

I don't agree with Sachs that the nature of the problem is an economic one and that one can ignore the politics. I don't understand how a 2hrs talk about the G8 summit can get away with not mentioning the WTO negotations. His speech is about needs that can be satisifed if only we follow his practical guidelines as in the Millennium Villages.

I wonder, if it would be all that simple as Sachs is putting it, why are there 850 million people hungry though there is enough food to feed the world. It is a violation of poor people's rights - and only one of them is the denial of women's rights to land...

Oh, no single women in fact managed to be taken into the question session...
Oh, and the host managed to acknowledge all but NGOs attendance in his entry speech...
Oh, thank god it was Friday and off I went through yet another rainy night in Berlin...

No comment

Bob Geldof in a recent interview with "Der Tagesspiegel"

"...Live 8 is probably the biggest movement of all time, certainly it's bigger than the civil rights or anti-apartheid movements..."

Another wall

Isn't it a bid odd for a former Eastener, the first female chancellor in Germany to be responsible for building yet another wall in Germany. This time it will only be 12km long; 2.50m high and at the little cost of 11 Mio Euro!

To be honest, it is more of a fence but still it is about fundamentally excluding people from Heiligendamm. Obviously, the official language is different - and it is about security and protection of the heads of state of the G8 countries as they are also expecting some 50.000 protestors. For sure, a fence that is built now and will be demolished right after the summit (lasting 6-8th June) to protect Merkel and her "partners in crime" is causing some controversy in an area in Germany with beautiful landscape but lack of employment options so that in fact there aren't that many people living anymore in or around Heiligendamm...but many will come and visit later this year; e.g. also some 16.000 police men

One for my mum

This one goes to my mum! Yeah right - are you wondering how it all links to G8.

Well, it happens to be her birthday on Friday, the exact date of the first official meeting of the G7 Finance Ministers. This will take place in Essen while I will be enjoying myself on some holiday out of the country, for sure far enough away from Essen! But I managed to tick off crucial bits and pieces of my to-do-list and ActionAid will launch a report addressing the upcoming meeting. Big on the to-do-list of the Finance Ministers is hopefully to commit to a proper funding plan for the target of universal access to prevention, treatment and care of HIV/AIDS by 2010. The G8 leaders have promised to do so already back in 2005 - so far all talk but no action. It seems, that political decision makers want to ensure us with more talk that all promises will be kept, albeit we see no action...yet again the G8 agenda headline "growth and responsibility" is ringing an alarm bell (if only in my ears) that the G8 wants to hand over the responsibility of fighting HIV onto developing countries. However, in 2007 alone 10 billion are lacking to fight HIV/AIDS! Someone in Germany would dare to say it is peanuts (sorry for an insider)- for developing countries it is not; for people living with AIDS it is not.

With establishing the Global Fund it sounds like G8 has fulfilled its obligation and the call is thus for African countries to come up with appropriate health budget, strengthening health systems, formulation of comprehensive anti-AIDS strategies, and development of strategies to overcome the scarcity of professional staff in the health sector. As if those strategies don’t yet exist; as if those nurses and health personal are not dying of HIV; as if the health budget is not cut due to IMF economic conditionalities...

Mixed messages

When the European Commission called this week for a binding legislation that would require carmakers to reduce new cars' CO2 emissions to an average of 120 grams per kilometer in 2012 Germany's industry unsurprisingly and uninspiringly has been quick with a very noisy response: binding limits at a fixed level of 120 would threat thousands of jobs in Germany and the competitiveness of the entire car industry. So far, so good - one would not expect a different response albeit some of us would wish for a more holistic one - thinking of climate change concerns instead of industry concerns only.

Here, Chancellor Merkel comes into the picture. No matter, whether looking at the G8 agenda or listening to her opening speech at the World Economic Forum - climate change is being pushed by her as an issue. A pity, that she is as quick as the car industry then in opposing any binding obligation that could indeed bring us closer to lowering CO2 emissions!

Moreover, the G8 agenda titled "growth and responsibility" cannot be read that it is about G8 countries' responsibility to spearhead policies and actions addressing the changing climate. Rather, it looks like Germany is spearheading the G8 this year in shifting the responsibility onto emerging powers such as China, India, Brazil, South Africa. Their rapid increase in energy consumption as well as consequently the increase in greenhouse gas emissions sounds like the greater challenge to the G8 than the changing climate per se. Though, it seems obvious that the G8 has not only the greatest capacity but also the greatest responsibility to lead by example.

Welcome!

Another blog is probably missing in your life and in the web. Yes, indeed!

This one is about politics, power and poverty - nothing more, nothing less. Mainly I will be covering the G8 summit 2007 but then for sure life is more than the G8.

I will try to keep you, as much as me entertained with these little stories from Berlin.

Good night and good luck,

Astrid