In March this year, a hundreds of citizens' groups met to discuss and make recommendations to the G8 on the three themes that Russia chose for the Summit: energy security, infectious diseases, and education. The citizens' groups represent these and other interests and causes; they are environmentalists, human rights activists, energy security specialists, the chamber of commerce and its members, disability rights activists, education and health care professionals, etc.
Activists are expected to protest the Summit in mid-July, but civil society participation in the run-up to the Summit is intended to influence the outcomes of the Summit through its declaration and interactions with the G8 governments.
Over the years, citizen activists have organized popular summits held in parallel to the official summit - in order to influence and/or protest against the Summits. This year, citizens' groups have put forward additional issues including: nuclear safety, climate as a global problem, poverty, Africa, traffic-in persons, domestic violence, and human rights. In March 2006, a declaration on the Summit themes as well as their additional concerns was prepared by a large conference of citizens' groups from the G8 countries, the former Soviet Republics, plus a handful of participants from Africa, Asia and Latin America.
The G8 countries made a commitment to increase development spending by $50 billion a year by 2010. And the raw data showing a $21 billion increase in development spending in 2005 over 2004 look as if they show some progress towards that target. However, Oxfam says 80% of that figure was in the one-off cancellation of debt to Nigeria, along with cancellation of debt to Iraq. Oxfam calls for the G8 to do more. Other citizens' groups argue that the quantity of aid is less important than its quality.
At the 2005 G8 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, the G8 made a vast number of promises as they do at all Summit. Since there are no official mechanisms to hold the G8 accountable to their promises, the G8 Research Group at the Munk Centre of the University of Toronto's Trinity College attempts to do so. A description of the state of play on the themes covered by the Summit appears online.
Written by Nancy Alexander, edited by IFIs Monitor
More information:
-> Civil G8 - 2006
-> Participants of the International Forum "Civil G8 - 2006"
-> Final documents of the Forum "Civil G8 - 2006"
-> The prospective agenda for the 2006 G8 St.Petersburg Summit
-> G8 On line
-> The prospective agenda for the 2006 G8 St.Petersburg Summit
