Save the Children welcomes G7’S $21 billion humanitarian funding commitment but regrets inaction on health and education

In May, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined other global leaders from some of the world’s richest countries in Japan for the G7 Leaders Summit to address global challenges. Comprised of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, the Group of Seven can leverage billions of dollars, shift global focus, and create a cascade of change where needed most with joint investments. This year, Save the Children welcomed the G7’s commitment of $21 billion in humanitarian funding for crises and their focus on peace, but noted that bold global leadership was also needed on issues of child health and education.

“We welcome the importance placed on peace and global cooperation at this year’s G7 Summit. Millions of children are living in conflict-affected areas, putting them at risk of physical, mental and psychosocial harm,” said Danny Glenwright, Save the Children’s President and CEO. “Conflict prevention and peacebuilding efforts are key to improving the lives of this and future generations of children. We further welcome the commitment to provide more than $21 billion to address humanitarian crises this year, including the hunger crisis.”

“However, we are concerned by the lack of clear, actionable commitments in the areas of health and education. We are now past the halfway mark towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and there is absolutely no time to waste,” added Glenwright. “Canada and the other G7 countries have previously been leaders on addressing children’s rights to health and education. We were hoping for more leadership and commitments in these areas as the needs are immense.”

Canada’s previous G7 leadership on child health and education

The G7 Summit has historically been a moment for the world’s most resourced countries to commit funds to tackle issues facing the most vulnerable people – in many cases these commitments have saved and changed the lives of children and their families living in the global south.

For instance, the group’s commitments when they met in Canada in 2010 created the Muskoka Initiative, a movement that led to further pledges from other countries, foundations and corporations that significantly reduced preventable child and maternal deaths.

In 2018 when Canada hosted the G7 Summit in Charlevoix, Quebec, the Charlevoix Education Initiative led to investments in education—particularly for girls and women—with a focus on those living in fragile, crisis and conflict-affected states.

Gaps for children in the 2023 G7 Summit outcomes

“G7 leaders did not demonstrate a clear enough commitment to children around the world,” summarized Ulrika Cilliers, Save the Children International’s Global Policy and Advocacy Director. “There were no new pledges made to finance the much-needed global health efforts, and whilst support has been shown for universal health coverage (UHC), we now need to see real leadership to turn these words into action so that essential health and nutrition services are made available to all.”

“Additionally, we had hoped the summit would pay more attention to funding education. There are currently 222 million crisis-affected children and adolescents in need of education support and 130 million girls remain without access to education,” added Cilliers. “Whilst G7 leaders acknowledged the importance of education for all children, we regret that no specific funding was pledged to address this.”

“Overall, the G7 discussed important issues at the Hiroshima Summit, but unfortunately has not shown enough commitment to bringing urgently needed change to the world’s children. We need action and financing to tackle these issues, and we need the world’s most powerful countries to demonstrate political will and to take the lead.”

Click here to read the full G7 Communique: G7 Hiroshima Leaders’ Communique.