Campaigners call for leaders to tackle the underlying issues behind global crises

Washington DC: As G7 leaders gather in Hiroshima today for the start of their 2023 summit, global activists are urging them to look beyond short-term challenges and develop a plan to address the underlying injustices and systemic failings that continue to trap millions of people in a vicious cycle of debt, dependency and extreme poverty and which undermine efforts to respond to climate change and other global threats.

Serah Makka, Executive Director for Africa at The ONE Campaign, said: “Millions of people in the world’s poorest countries are on the brink of an abyss right now. From climate change to food insecurity and the economic aftershocks of the pandemic and war in Ukraine, they have been left facing the most devastating consequences of crises they did nothing to cause.

“With countries in Africa having to absorb the impact of these crises – and the failure to truly address them, it is hardly surprising that faith in western leaders and multilateral systems is at an all-time low. The only way out of this is for leaders to see the bigger picture, replace empty promises with concrete action and get to grips with the underlying causes of poverty, inequality and climate change, we will keep lurching from emergency to emergency.

“It’s time they got their heads out of the sand and developed the genuinely ambitious plan – backed up by proper investment – needed to build a better, fairer and more sustainable future for people everywhere, and which finally addresses the global injustices that sit behind every global crisis.”

In particular, ONE is calling on the G7 to take urgent steps to offset the growing sovereign debt crisis engulfing many low and middle income countries and accelerate efforts to recycle SDRS and increase financing and investment to help countries rebuild after the COVID 19 pandemic and rise to the challenge of climate change.  ONE is also urging the leaders to support incoming World Bank president Ajay Banga and help deliver the urgent reforms needed to make the Bank fit for purpose and equipped to play a leading role in efforts to tackle extreme poverty and reduce the threat from climate change.

Serah Makka continued: “With so many fires raging around the world, it can be hard to look to the future – and in reality, our expectations for this summit are limited. But the G7 may still surprise us. The Japanese Government has already shown strong leadership recycling 40% of the Special Drawing Rights it received from the IMF. It should be urging its partners to follow this lead – and also pushing them to go much further and faster on debt and climate finance and on the urgent work needed to reform global financial institutions to make them fit for the 21st century.”