G8 - how our world leaders can help children like this

PICTURE the scene: St Mary's Stadium has an open day for children.

Some 30,000-odd excited youngsters pack into the ground looking forward to a day of fun.

Now imagine that by the end of the day each one of those children is dead - and imagine that happening the next day and the day after that and every day to come.

By the end of a week 210,000 would be dead, by the end of a month 930,000.

You can stop imagining now because that is what is actually happening - not in a football stadium in Southampton but in poverty-stricken countries around the world.

Every day 30,000 children die because of preventable poverty - that is through starvation, lack of clean water and preventable and treatable disease. That's not to mention all their parents, grandparents, teachers, neighbours and other adults - another 20,000 people - who also die through preventable poverty each day.

'Preventable' is the key word here, and charities and pressure organisations, as well as some politicians, are hoping that the G8 summit will be a turning point where global poverty will finally be made a thing of the past.

The Make Poverty History campaign has been launched to make this year a turning point for world poverty and bring about its eradication.

The G8 leaders are in a position to do this and campaigners are calling on them to act now by following their three main demands.

The first of these is to drop the debt of the poorest countries.

Oxfam estimates that cancelling the debts of 32 of the poorest countries would cost the richest countries $1.8 billion each year over the next ten years - on average $2.10 for each citizen each year.

These poor countries have already paid back more than they borrowed and are now being crippled by interest payments. Despite paying off their debts for years, many countries now actually owe more than their original loans.

Interest rates rocketed in the 1980s, leaving the world's poorest countries paying more than £30 million each day to the rich world in debt repayment.

This leaves countries unable to tackle their own problems and care for their own people. For example, Zambia spends three times as much paying interest on debts as it does on healthcare.

Many of the debts have been inherited from corrupt leaders, such as General Pinochet in Chile and 'Papa Doc' Duvalier in Haiti.

Campaigners say that in order to meet the United Nations' poverty-combating targets, the Millennium Development Goals, which have been agreed by almost 190 countries, 62 of the world's poorest countries need all of their debt cancelled at once.

Cancelling Third World debt would go a long way towards alleviating poverty but on its own it would not be enough. Impoverished countries also need aid which does not have conditions attached.

In 1970 the UN set rich countries the target of allocating 0.7 per cent of national income to aid but that is still not happening. Member states of the European Union who joined before 2002 have recently set a target of reaching this percentage by 2015 but several donors still have no timetable for increasing the amount of aid they give.

Based on current trends, Canada will reach the target in 2025 while the USA will reach it in 2040.

Meeting the UN target of giving just 0.7 per cent of national income to aid would generate £120 billion - enough to meet the Millennium Development Goals and other vital poverty-reduction goals.

However, there is more to it than just giving aid. It is important that aid doesn't come with conditions attached that are damaging for the countries receiving help, like requiring them to adopt particular policies such as opening their markets to imports or privatising vital services such as water.

Poor countries are being forced to jump through hoops, which hinders rather than helps their people. For example, Oxfam's analysis of World Bank loan conditions found that the bank requires governments of countries such as Ethiopia to carry out about 80 policy changes a year. These changes get in the way of a country's ability to choose its own reforms, meaning that aid is less likely to be spent on sustainable development.

Currently, almost 30 per cent of aid from the richest countries is tied to an obligation to buy goods and services from the donor country.

What's more, a recent report from ActionAid found that less than 40p in every pound of aid given was actually making it to poor countries.

What is really important is that aid is targeted at meeting the basic needs of the poorest people, such as healthcare and water.

It's also vital that a set period of time is agreed in advance over which the aid is to be given and that this timeframe is compatible with its goal.

For example, 70 per cent of the time donors commit to giving aid for three years or less but to guarantee a complete primary education for just one generation of children funding would be needed for six years.

When the right aid is given it can have stunning results.

Thanks to money provided by debt relief and aid, Ugandans no longer have to pay for private healthcare. As a result the rate of immunisation in the country has doubled.

History shows us that aid has played an essential role in eradicating global diseases. More than $100m was targeted to eradicate smallpox from the late 1960s, a goal which was achieved by 1980.

The final demand of Make Poverty History and other campaign groups of the G8 members is trade justice.

It is through fair trade that many countries will ultimately be able to lift themselves from the poverty trap.

Global trading favours rich countries at the expense of poorer ones. Rich countries sell subsidised produce to poor ones, meaning that farmers in poor countries cannot compete. Produce imported from poor countries is sold for a far higher price in rich countries than it was bought for, meaning that the workers in the poor countries get a tiny proportion of the profits. The list of trade injustices goes on.

The United Nations has estimated that making trade work for poor countries could bring them an additional £365.5 billion each year.

Anti-poverty campaigners argue that poverty is not inevitable.

However, the question is: will the world leaders at the G8 summit take the necessary steps to eradicate it?

BOB GELDOF - A MAN ON A MISSION

HE sees himself first and foremost as a musician whose passion for verse has shaped his being.

To the rest of the world, however, Bob Geldof is arguably perceived as the closest living thing to a modern-day saint - a man whose halo would be obvious if it wasn't hidden under so much hair.

Whether feeding the world, making generation-changing television programmes, writing a few songs or fulfilling his role as an iconic single parent, Geldof is rarely out of the papers.

He is an anti-celebrity whose power is in his celebrity - a man who does not court fame but is a master at manipulating the media to maximise his message.

Ever since emerging from the 1970s as one of the most recognisable faces of the punk movement, as lead singer of the Boomtown Rats, Geldof has battled against the establishment on a humanitarian quest to address Third World poverty.

Yet it is in the establishment he has now found an ally, becoming the public face of Blair and Brown's Commission For Africa, which will form the bedrock of discussions at the G8 summit in July.

An uncomfortable paradox or a sign that, finally, the drum Geldof has been banging so loudly for 20 years is finally being heard by the world's most powerful leaders? Only time will tell.

But even the most hardened cynic would struggle to deny the 50-year-old Dubliner's role in almost single-handedly bringing the devastating plight of sub-Saharan Africa to the world stage.

Geldof himself recently acknowledged Africa is in a worse state now than when he launched Band Aid in November 1984.

However, the distribution of £75m famine relief by the Band Aid Trust - raised largely through the single and 1985's historic Live Aid concerts - between January 1985 and November 2004 is indisputable.

The rerelease of Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid 20, featuring artists such as Coldplay and Robbie Williams, last Christmas boosted the coffers by a further £15m.

Given a knighthood for his charity work in 1986 and thrice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, Geldof has carved out a unique niche for himself in world politics.

But to the boy from Dun Laoghaire, political accolades are irrelevant while people are still dying. Music maybe his first love, but this is his crusade.

THEY HAVE THE POWER - BUT WILL THEY MAKE POVERT HISTORY?

They have the power, but will they Make Poverty History?

What is the G8 Summit?

The G8 is a group of leaders from the world's richest and most powerful countries: USA, UK, Russia, Japan, Italy, Germany, France and Canada. They will meet at Gleneagles, Scotland, between July 6 and 8.

Why are anti-poverty groups targeting the G8 Summit?

The members of the G8 have the power to end extreme poverty. They can do this by cancelling the debts that the very poorest countries are paying back, increase aid and bring about trade justice.

Why haven't rich countries already cancelled third world debt?

Rich nations such as the USA have been promising to cancel debt owed by poor countries for nine years but it has yet to happen. An Oxfam spokesman said: "Rich countries can afford to cancel the debt but the

reason for not doing so is the lack of political will."

What is Make Poverty History?

This is a campaign to end world poverty. It has a huge number of member groups, including Oxfam, Action Aid, Christian Aid, Traidcraft Exchange and the TUC. The campaign was launched on New Year's Day and will run until the end of the year.

What are the key demands of the Make Poverty History campaign?

The campaign has three main interconnected demands which must be met if preventable poverty is to be eradicated. They want the unpayable debts of the world's poorest countries to be cancelled, international fair trade and more and better aid.

What are the Millennium Development Goals?

The eight Millennium Development Goals were agreed at the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000 and nearly 190 countries have subsequently signed up to them.

The goals are: I) eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, II) achieve universal primary education, III) promote gender equality and empower women, IV) reduce child mortality, V) improve maternal health, VI) combat HIV, AIDS, malaria and other diseases, VII) ensure environmental sustainability, VIII) develop a global partnership for development. As well as the goals, a series of targets were drawn up to give the international community a number of tangible improvements to aim for within a fixed period of time and make it easier for them to measure their progress. The intention is that almost all of these targets will be achieved by 2015. But although while some progress is being made towards meeting some of the targets, in many cases progress is patchy, too slow or non-existent.

At the current rate world poverty won't be halved until 2150.

What is the Commission for Africa?

Reducing poverty in Africa is "the fundamental challenge of our generation" Tony Blair declared as he unveiled the UK-led Commission for Africa report in March.

Set the task of finding the best ways to raise living standards in the world's poorest continent on the Commission's launch in February 2004, the report urges wealthy nations to double their aid to the continent, adding £30 billion a year over ten years.

Both Mr Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown visited Africa during the report's preparation, witnessing life in a poverty-ravaged society first-hand, while Sir Bob Geldof has also been heavily involved in the process as one of 17 commissioners.

As well increasing financial aid commitments and tackling corruption across the continent, the report also recommends debt cancellation, increased health spending, free primary education, the funding of an African peace-keeping force and the cessation of arms sales to conflict zones.