G8 Research Group

Postscript: Score [0.75]

The G8 renewed its commitment to transparency and good governance as key drivers of progress. It affirmed its ongoing support for democratic reform around the world, including Sub-Saharan Africa, and declared that, “democracy lays the best path to peace, stability, prosperity, shared growth, and development”. To this end, the G8 welcomed the spread of democracy ushered in by the recent election of the Presidents of Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, and Niger. It also pledged to redouble its efforts to promote transparency and accountability.

Additionally, the G8 called on the Southern African Development Community to renew its efforts to assist Zimbabwe to complete the implementation of the Global Political Agreement and to secure agreement and implementation by all parties to the GPA of “a roadmap to organize free, peaceful, and transparent elections within a new constitutional framework approved by a referendum”. It also called for a coordinated response to tackle the growing threat of piracy off the coast of Somalia. To this end, it acknowledged that effective prosecution, such as the execution of sentences, is necessary to combat piracy and welcomed the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1976. Finally, the G8 applauded efforts by the African Union to ratify the African Charter on Democracy, Elections, and Governance, and reaffirmed its support for the African Peer Review Mechanism. However, the G8 failed to propose concrete commitments for the reform of public institutions and for the implementation of anti-corruption instruments. Therefore, the G8 is assigned a score of 0.75.