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G8 Africa policies should be subject to a ‘development audit’

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21 February 2005

G8 policies should be subject to a ‘development audit’ which examines their impact on Africa according to the Institute for Public Policy Research. ippr research published today (Monday) concludes that this should apply to issues like aid, trade, arms exports, investment and climate change to ensure that G8 countries are accountable for those aspects of their policies that damage Africa.

The report argues that while African countries are urged to be more accountable - for example, through the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Peer Review Mechanism - there is no comparable process to evaluate G8 policies towards Africa.

ippr says that the G8 should establish a G8/Africa Forum as a permanent feature of the annual summit, to replace the current unstructured dialogue between G8 and African leaders. An audit would be produced to examine existing G8 policies towards Africa and be presented to the Forum by the UN Secretary General. G8 countries would be required to respond to this in detail at the following year’s G8 Summit.

David Mepham, ippr Associate Director said:

“The real obstacles to better policy towards Africa are not technical but political. Africa’s interests, and the harmful impacts of G8 policy on Africa, need to be pushed higher up the international political agenda. The best thing that G8 countries can do for Africa is to end those existing policies that damage and disadvantage the continent. Inadequate aid with inappropriate conditions, unfair trade rules, weak controls over arms exports, poor regulation of G8 companies and high greenhouse gas emissions, in all these ways, G8 countries are hindering rather than helping Africa.”

Putting Our House in Order also recommends G8 governments should:

Establish an International Arms Trade Treaty, setting high common standards governing arms transfers, and agree common extra-territorial controls over arms brokers at the 2006 UN Review Conference on Small Arms.
Close loopholes in the OECD Convention on the Bribery of Foreign Public Officials, ratify the UN Convention against Corruption and provide additional resources to investigate and prosecute G8 companies that engage in corruption abroad.
Phase out all agricultural export subsidies and end tariff escalation (the practice of putting higher tariffs on Africa’s processed and semi-processed goods).
Reform the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS), so that African countries can get access to the drugs they need for treating HIV/AIDS and other diseases.
Commit to reaching the UN 0.7 per cent aid/national income target by 2010.
Support 100 per cent multilateral debt cancellation for low-income African countries.

Notes to editors:

The ippr report examines G8 policy in five areas: aid and conditionality, trade, arms exports, corruption and conflict financing, and climate change.

The final meeting of the Commission for Africa will take place on Thursday 24 February. It will publish its final report in early March.

Contacts:

Rachel O’Brien, ippr Director of External Affairs, 020 7470 6106 / 07801 106 920 / r.obrien@ippr.org

David Mepham, ippr Associate Director, Head of International Team, 020 7470 0021 / 07951 043 672 / d.mepham@ippr.org

James Lorge, ippr Research Fellow, International Team, 020 7470 6161 / 07879 474703 / j.lorge@ippr.org