WUNRN
The
Group of Eight (G8) is a forum for the leaders of eight of the world’s most
industrialized nations, aimed at finding common ground on key topics and solutions
to global issues. The G8 includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan,
Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
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ADD YOUR VOICE:
Women’s Human
Rights Agenda for the G8
April 18, 2012
On May 18, leaders of the world’s eight largest economies (the G8) will
gather at Camp David, a walled-off retreat reserved for the US President and
his guests. There, they will make decisions that will affect all of us, no
matter where we live.
This unjust distribution of political power means that sustainable alternatives
to harmful policies are ignored, and voices of the global 99% are silenced.
But women’s human rights advocates refuse to be ignored. We know that women
worldwide are creating solutions to the crises we all face, including poverty,
economic injustice and militarism. We are putting forward our own G8 agenda. We
need your input to craft it.
Visit www.madre.org/g8agenda
to share your ideas and to join our effort. Together, we can demand policies
that protect women’s human rights worldwide.
Poverty and
Economic Injustice
This Is the Reality:
Income Inequality: G8 policies protect the richest at the
expense of the rest. When governments value private profits above the public
good, poverty and instability result.
Labor Rights Violations: The rights to unionize and to be
free from gender discrimination are essential. But workers worldwide are
routinely denied protection for internationally recognized labor rights.
A Broken Aid System: Aid today is insufficient and
ineffective. It often does not reach where it is needed most. It does not address
the root causes of poverty and inequality. What’s more, aid delivery
perpetuates dependency and is conditioned on policies that enrich the G8.
This Is Our Vision. Women Demand G8 Policies That:
- Recognize the many ways women fuel economies, from
performing unpaid work as caregivers to sustaining informal economies. - Safeguard access to basic services, like health,
housing, education, water and sanitation. - Support proven strategies to end poverty—like
investment in social safety nets and girls’ education. - Ensure that aid delivery is effective, transparent and
boosts local efforts.
Add your voice at www.madre.org/poverty
Food Sovereignty
This Is the Reality:
Food Price Crises: The neoliberal embrace of deregulated
markets has allowed financial traders to speculate in food staples, causing
prices to shoot up. Waves of food crises have gripped communities worldwide, as
basic foods are priced out of reach.
Unfair Trade Policies: Massive subsidies by G8 nations have
protected corporate agribusiness while destroying the livelihoods of farmers in
the Global South by flooding local markets. What’s more, countries have been
pressured to produce agricultural commodities for export, not food for eating.
Industrial Agriculture: Small-scale farmers have been hurt
by G8 policies that prioritize monoculture and industrial farming. This has
destroyed biodiversity, worsened climate change and increased the use of
polluting fertilizers and pesticides.
This Is Our Vision. Women Demand G8 Policies That:
- Invest in small-scale, sustainable agriculture. The G8
has already committed to provide $20 billion for this through its L’Aquila
food security initiative—but it has only raised $1.1 billion. - Empower women farmers, who feed local communities using
sustainable methods that must be supported by governments. - Work towards not just food security, but food
sovereignty. People have the right to healthy food raised sustainably and
to decide how their food is produced. - Protect food as more than a mere commodity. It is a
human right that must be guaranteed.
Add your voice at www.madre.org/food
Health
This Is the Reality:
Denial of the Right to Health: G8 governments are
abdicating their responsibility to provide comprehensive health care for their
people. They tell us that free markets can do the job. Instead, women pick up
the slack, shouldering the responsibility of providing care to their families.
Attacks on Reproductive Health and Rights: In the name of
“traditional values,” right wing forces have launched new political attacks. At
the global and local levels, women’s access to family planning is at
risk—jeopardizing women’s health and safe motherhood.
This Is Our Vision. Women Demands G8 Policies That:
- Protect and implement the right to health worldwide, as
a priority over protecting corporate profits. - Remove policy constraints on countries of the Global
South to provide health care to their populations. - Recognize that the right to health—including
reproductive and maternal health—is inalienable and non-negotiable.
Add your voice at www.madre.org/health
Democracy and
Accountability
This Is the Reality:
Greed Without Accountability: G8 governments have shielded
the bankers and corporations responsible for the financial crises that have
devastated communities across the globe. Rescued by government bailouts, they
are quickly returning to business as usual.
The Next Phase of the Arab Spring: The revolutions of the
Arab Spring were made possible and accelerated by women’s leadership. Women
have created new opportunities to have a say in their future—but they are
already confronting a backlash from fundamentalist forces.
Unfair International Institutions: Global governing power
is concentrated in the hands of wealthy nations—and the G8 is a prime example.
But countries of the Global South are organizing to demand a space at the
table.
This Is Our Vision. Women Demands G8 Policies That:
- Recognize the financial meltdown as a result of a
neoliberal economic model—one that also threatens our food, energy and
environment. - Address the demands of the Occupy Wall Street movement
and its counterparts worldwide—including an end to impunity for criminal
acts by banks and corporations. - Stand with women leaders against rightwing backlash.
- Democratize global policy-making spaces. The G8 is not
an alternative to the United Nations.
Add your voice at www.madre.org/democracy
Peace
This Is the Reality:
War in the Name of Rights: G8 governments have used women’s
human rights to justify war. We’ve seen this charade in the US/NATO invasions
of Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead, these occupations put women’s human rights at
risk.
“War on Terror”: Policymakers have used post-9/11 fears to
distort our definitions of security. Proponents of the so-called “war on
terror” promote xenophobia and anxiety to distract from human rights abuses,
like torture at Guantanamo Bay.
The Next War: Hawks are pressing for a pre-emptive attack
on Iran. This would violate international law and spread massive suffering—and
activists are already mobilizing against it.
This Is Our Vision. Women Demands G8 Policies That:
- Recognize that women are disproportionately harmed by
war and armed conflict. - Confront violence against women, including rape, as a
weapon of war. - Reject all attempts to justify human rights violations
by invoking the “war on terror.” - Embrace a definition of security that protects human
rights. This must include economic security, as well as an end to violence
against women—in times of war and peace.
Add your voice at www.madre.org/peace
Public Services
This Is the Reality:
Rampant Privatization: G8 policies have embraced
privatization of public goods, including basic services like electricity and
water.
Extreme Austerity: In the wake of global financial crises,
many governments are still struggling. But they are foisting the worst
sacrifices on those least to blame, by slashing public services. In Greece,
drastic austerity programs have reduced living standards by 30%.
This Is Our Vision. Women Demands G8 Policies That:
- Reserve basic necessities like water as public goods to
be managed locally and democratically. - Invest in public services that sustain people through
crisis.
Add your voice at www.madre.org/services
The Environment and
Natural Resources
This Is the Reality:
Land Grabbing: Small-scale women farmers in the Global
South produce most of their families’ food. But their communities are being dispossessed
by corporations to make way for industrial agriculture and biofuel plantations.
Extractive Industries: G8 governments have misdirected
vital investment dollars into industries like oil and mining. In communities
from Peru to the Congo, people are confronting the harmful practices of
extractive industries on their land—often facing brutal retaliation.
Climate Change: We are fast approaching a global point of
no return—irreversible climate change, including droughts and famines,
unpredictable farming seasons and intensified disasters.
This Is Our Vision. Women Demands G8 Policies That:
- Promote the sustainable use of resources. End policies
that push cash-strapped governments to pursue short-sighted resource
exploitation. - Provide access to financing for climate change
adaptation at the grassroots level. That is where climate change is most
acutely felt and where the most innovative solutions are emerging. - Increase investment in renewable energy sources.
- Take urgent action to address climate change: impose
caps on greenhouse gas emissions and work towards zero-waste, low carbon
economies.
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