27 June 2005

Following hard on the heels of a damning report from ActionAid that revealed the seven broken promises of previous G7 summits, ActionAid today shows that the world’s major governments are failing to live up to their promises of aid to Tsunami affected countries.

ActionAid has released the most up-to-date figures on what key governments worldwide offered financially in the aftermath of the tsunami, compared to what they have actually given. The figures reveal a picture of failure to handover on a massive scale.

Bottom of the pledge list is Australia. Australia is a key player in the region, but has so far only managed to give 7% of the money they committed to the emergency relief and reconstruction effort.

Next comes France with a meagre 13%, followed by Germany with 15%, then the Netherlands with 16%.  The United States and the European Commission have delivered on just over a third of their pledge, 38%, yet Canada has only handed over 20%. Norway has only managed 46% while Italy has given 59% of its promised money.

Leading the way are the UK and Japanese governments. The British government has provided 97% of the aid money it committed to donate, whilst Japan has a perfect score of 100%.

Roger Yates, ActionAid’s Emergencies Director said of these figures: "Donor governments have to understand that there continues to be a very real crisis in these countries. If they fail deliver on their financial commitments, as they have with other emergencies in the past, then the work of rebuilding broken communities will be all that much harder."

Patrick Watt, whose report highlighted the failure of G7 governments to deliver on financial promises and initiatives, said: "The Tsunami should not become another example of the world’s richest governments failing to deliver on their promises.   
We have seen to often in the past, governments saying one thing and then failing to provide the cash they promised.

"We have the seven key pledges that the G7 leaders have failed to deliver on. Now we also have the examples of previous crises, including Rwanda, the Bam Earthquake in Iran, Afghanistan, and Hurricane Mitch in Central America. All of which were emergencies for which the world’s richest nations promised money for relief and reconstruction. All of them have seen only a small proportion of the promised money delivered."

Khurshid Alam, ActionAid’s Tsunami Project Manager commenting on the figures said today: "It’s time for rich governments to act on their rhetoric and make available the funding they pledged to the areas affected by the Tsunami. As we approach the six-month anniversary, it’s important to deliver on long-term objectives and the governments who pledged the money have a critical role to play."