WCC Opens International Advocacy Week with Millennium Development Goals
The World Council of Churches (WCC) International Affairs and Advocacy Week opened at the United Nations Headquarter in New York City with a challenge to all churches to lead the way in ending extreme poverty, Sunday, Nov. 14, 2004.
"The hope of humanity is in the churches. Churches need to challenge the neoliberal policies of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund when they undermine the spirit of the Millennium Development Goals, and also need to keep national governments in the South accountable to rational and honest use of their national resources," said Polycarp Omolo Ochilo, director of international affairs, service and witness with the All Africa Council of Churches.
Ochilo’s comments were made during the public seminar on “The role of the churches in fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals” – the first focus of the Nov. 14-19 event.
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The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) were developed by the United Nations in 2000 with the vision of halving poverty by 2015 and bringing about a radical change in economic ethics. Several Christian organizations and groups, under the banner of “The Micah Challenge” launched international and national initiatives around the world to implant the vision of the MDG in the church.
Salil Shetty, the executive director of the UN MDGs Campaign, explained why churches are critical in mobilizing, uniting and engaging people in the anti0poverty effort. Shetty also gave examples of how the MDG campaign helped call attention to the issue of poverty in civil society.
Chien Yen Goh from the Third World Network explained why the MDG emphasis on overturning unjust economic policies is needed.
It is very difficult to achieve the goal of “creating an international partnership for development” with inequitable trade practices, said Goh.
According to Goh, trade in a crucial part of global society and trade policies should therefore serve the needs of development within a government’s overall policy. The current economic systems “critically weaken” the necessary structures to maintain international equity and widen the gap between the poor and wealthy countries.
Meanwhile, Neil Watkins of the Jubilee USA network – a group initially created to nullify the outstanding debts of third world countries before the new millennium, said debt cancellation is still a must to meet the MDGs.
"It is impossible to meet the MDGs without 100% debt cancellation for the poorest countries," said Watkins.
Interest payments are crippling many countries, to the extent that Zambia is paying 20% of their national budget on debt interest and repayment, and only 3% of their budget on health care. This is happening while their country suffers from the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and life expectancy has gone from 50 years in 1980 to 38 today, Watkins further explained.
Watkins also rejected the oft-used excuse that debt cancellation would cause poor nations to be morally hazardous and corrupt.
All the evidence shows that debt relief has freed funds for poverty reduction, he said.
Karin Lexén, a member of the Church of Sweden, said her church has been active in the Jubilee campaigns and will “continue to rally around the Millennium Development Goals as one tool for advocacy towards a more just economic system".
According to the WCC, “2005 will be a critical year for work on issues of economic justice. This year offers a new opportunity to put poverty and human rights back on the agenda and to show critical links with the current overarching security concerns. Discussions on 100% debt reduction are actually happening within many governments, and there will be a review of the MDGs as well as other major economic policies.”
The following is the list of the UN’s eight MDGs, which all 89 UN member states have agreed to achieve by 2015.
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by half
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development
