KYOTO — This year's Group of Eight summit in Toyako, Hokkaido, could end up a failure unless Japan demonstrates strong leadership and the political will to forge agreements among the members on issues ranging from climate change to African development, international NGOs warned Wednesday.
That was the mood among many attending the 2008 Civil G8 Dialogue, a two-day gathering of more than 160 international environmental, development and human rights NGOs that are pressing the G8 to honor past commitments and to engage society when formulating new ones.
"There are now about 70 days left until the Hokkaido summit starts in early July, and I'm beginning to feel uneasy. The Japanese government has not come up with proposals on environmental issues, poverty reduction and development, or human rights that are global in scale," said Masako Hoshino, chairwoman of the 2008 Japan G8 Summit NGO Forum, which is sponsoring the Kyoto meetings.