Ben OsborneLeading charity groups are aiming to mark David Cameron’s taking up the role of chair of the G8 group of leading economic nations next year, by holding Make Poverty History 2, The Guardian reports.
Focusing on food poverty the campaign will look to raise a similar amount of publicity for poverty causes as the first Make Poverty History Campaign in 2005 did.
As commodity prices in 2007-08 kept or pushed an additional 105 million people below the poverty line, and prices returned to those high levels over the last year, according to figures released by the World Bank, the need for another campaign is seen as imperative by leading poverty campaigners. The Government is largely supportive of the campaign and plans to hold a major event in Hyde Park are thought to be underway.
The Guardian reports that the majority of leading UK aid charities are once again due to be involved in what will be a major poverty profile raising event, including. The paper believes that Save the Children, Oxfam, Christian Aid, and One, the campaign group set up by rock star activists Bono and Bob Geldof., will once again be involved, as well as environmental group such as Friends of the Earth and the RSPB.
Max Lawson, senior policy adviser at Oxfam, said, “If it goes ahead, a campaign like this would be fantastic – millions united in challenging governments to fix the broken food system and meet their promises to the poorest.”
The 2005 G8 summit signalled an extra $48 billion a year by 2010, which included between $15 and $20 billion of new commitments towards eradicating poverty around the world, and $1billion per year of debt was dropped for 18 of the most highly indebted poor countries. There does however remain a huge amount of work to do before poverty is by any stretch of the imagination made history.
