G7: Last hope for the world's most vulnerable children

Ahead of the G7 summit in Bavaria, Germany, this weekend, international development agency World Vision is urging Prime Minister David Cameron to make sure the world’s most vulnerable children aren’t forgotten.

Geeta Bandi-Phillips, World Vision UK’s External Relations Manager who is at the media centre in Garmisch-Partenkirchen the summit says: “This is a critical year for children with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set to expire and a new set of post-2015 goals being developed.

“The G7 meeting provides a chance for leaders to support an ambitious post-2015 framework and make up for the sluggish and uneven progress of the MDGs”, says Bandi-Phillips.

“Children need to be in the forefront of these discussions; especially the children who missed out on the success of the MDGs are at risk of being forgotten again. They are the ones who bear the brunt of atrocities and consequences from civil conflicts and humanitarian crises,” adds Bandi-Phillips.

The Syria crisis has impacted more than 6.6 million children. They have not only lost homes, friends, and family members, but many have also witnessed or experienced violence. Things will deteriorate further unless the G7 leaders agree to scale up assistance and tackle the root causes. 

Globally, 6.3 million children under the age of five die every year, and once again, the majority of them are in fragile and conflict affected places. “These children are the ones who suffer the most, and should be prioritised by G7 leaders,” says Bandi-Phillips. 

Bandi-Phillips continues: “G7 leaders have a chance to make this year historical for children. Goals such as ensuring no child dies from preventable causes, ending hunger and extreme poverty by 2030 are only achievable if leaders rally support and commit resources now.” 

World Vision urges Prime Minister Cameron and other G7 leaders to use this last opportunity to ensure children in conflict-affected and fragile countries such as Syria, South Sudan, and Central African Republic are not forgotten.

Bandi-Phillips says: “These leaders will sign up to new goals in September. They have already contributed to the success of halving the number of people living in extreme poverty, and the number of children dying from preventable deaths. But they need to use their power to ensure that come September, the children who live and die invisible to the systems that could help them, are not ignored once again.”

ENDS

Note to the editor:

On Friday, June 5th, World Vision will be hosting two events for media:

1) Photo stunt. 12:00pm on Olympia Street, corner of St.-Martin-Straße (opposite Lidl), less than 400 meters from media center: World Vision will be performing a stunt using a giant boat image that will illustrate the evidence that Ebola is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the deaths of children and their mothers.

2) Photo exhibit, with stories of children. 2-3pm on Kongresszentrum, Richard-Strauss-Platz 1A, 82467 Garmisch-Partenkirchen: World Vision will be hosting a media exclusive at the “Revisited” photo exhibit. This exhibition follows eight children and their families through the last 15 years, to see if the Millennium Development Goals have hurt or helped them. British photojournalist Nick Danziger travelled to eight countries (Niger, Zambia, Uganda, India, Cambodia, Armenia, Honduras and Bolivia) in 2005, 2010 and 2015 to capture the stories behind these families.

For more information or interview opportunities with Geeta Bandi-Philips, please contact Brenda Yu +44 7786 333784