The world's richest countries are not meeting the pledge they made to the developing world after the global event Live 8, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
A new report shows that aid from the G8 countries fell by €3.7 billion in 2006, despite a pledge at the 2005 G8 summit in Gleneagles to increase funding by €37 million every year until 2010.
The OECD praised the UK for its aid budget which went up by 20 percent last year, but the group criticised the US and other EU countries for falling behind.
'These promises are a matter of life and death for the world's poorest', said Max Lawson from Oxfam.
'Millions of people will continue to die every year from preventable diseases, 80 million children will not go to school and millions will be condemned to a life of poverty.'
Patrick Watt, policy coordinator at Action Aid, said the UK needs to 'hold to account' the other countries for their promises.
He said the biggest culprits were Germany, Italy and the US who joined with Prime Minister Tony Blair to sign the Gleneagles pledge.
Mr Watt said those countries seemed to have 'no plans' to meet the target.
The same OECD report showed that Ireland had a 33.7 percent increase in 2006, reflecting what the group calls 'increasing bilateral aid as well as large multilateral contributions.'
Also today, new Irish strategic partnerships with key UN development agencies were announced.
Under the partnership, the Department of Foreign Affairs programme Irish Aid will guarantee significant levels of funding for the next four years, and will include strict requirements on monitoring, evaluation, and efficiency.
Core funding from Irish Aid to the UN's funds and programmes will increase from €62.9m in 2006 to €86.44m in 2007.
