G20/G8: Protests as world leaders renege on Make Poverty History promises.
28/06/2010 14:27:00
Thousands of protestors took to the streets this weekend as world leaders dropped their Gleneagles pledge to increase aid by $50 billion by 2010. Sara Cottingham, VSO’s Head of Programme Learning and Advocacy responds:
“This is an appalling and deadly backtrack. G8 leaders must not put their heads in the sand on this issue and must understand that their decision will cost lives in the developing world.
The G8 have broken their promise to not only people in the developing world but also to the tens of thousands of ordinary people who marched to Gleneagles in 2005 to ensure that we do Make Poverty History.
Whilst the UK defended the pledge, Japan, Italy, Germany and France should be ashamed of themselves. Tackling poverty is a global burden and they have a responsibility to act”.
