OSAKA — In a report sharply critical of the Group of Eight major powers, Oxfam International has warned that the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, which aim to halve global poverty by 2015, are in danger of not being met.
"The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has admitted rich countries could miss their 2010 promise of $50 billion in annual aid by as much as $30 billion," said the report, which was released Friday just as G8 finance ministers were gathering in Osaka. "Oxfam estimates failure to come up with this money could place nearly 5 million people in danger."
Oxfam, one of the world's leading NGOs on development issues, has issued 16 specific recommendations for the G8 leaders this year. These include agreeing to freeze biofuel production targets, agreeing to debt cancellation for all countries that need it to reach the Millennium Development Goals, and reducing domestic carbon emissions by at least 25 to 40 percent by 2020.