Development Dossier
World Council of Churches
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- Chairman, World Summit for Social Development
World Council of ChurchesIt is a privilege to greet you at this important gathering of world leaders in the name of the World Council of Churches which I serve as General Secretary. The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of some 325 Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant member churches in more than one hundred countries in several regions of the world. What I present to you today has been informed by decades of dialogue between Christian churches, but increasingly also with people of other religious faiths. In addition, the two international Roman Catholic networks, CIDSE and Caritas Internationalis, have emphasized that their views on social development are similar to those of the WCC. Since its beginnings, the World Council of Churches has been an advocate of Christian involvement in the struggle for social justice, based on the conviction that we cannot separate the material and spiritual needs of individuals and communities. Out of this conviction, the World Council of Churches actively promoted the formation of the United Nations fifty years ago as an instrument not just of sovereign states, but as the embodiment of the aspirations of the peoples of the world for peace, respect for human rights, including religious liberty, and freedom from want.
As the world economy becomes global in nature, economic and political power is increasingly concentrated in the hands of the privileged few. The global market approach is rapidly reshaping the world, weakening the traditional role of national governments through policies of deregulation and limiting the effectiveness of the system of intergovernmental social institutions. Who is to look after the people's interests in a time when institutions in the private sphere assume an ever greater role in the shaping of global economy? Who is to safeguard the rights of the poor nations and the small states in the face of the domination of a handful of powerful actors on the world scene? In the face of such a challenge, a potentially powerful third force, the civil society, has begun to emerge. The development everywhere of social movements and voluntary non‑governmental organizations is accompanied by a resurgence of religion, an indication that the spiritual, cultural and material needs of human community are inextricably bound together. The United Nations, through world gatherings as this one, has facilitated the emergence of an international civil society which must be regarded as an essential component of social development and as a crucial part of a new international order. It presupposes, however, the universal affirmation of basic structures for justice in the political, social and economic realms. What is at stake here is a fundamental change of consciousness and values. One of the areas in which we need such a fundamental change of paradigms is the role of economic growth. Certainly the growth of world production over the last decades has led to great improvements, at least for certain groups in society. For many areas in the world economic growth is absolutely necessary to provide employment and income and to make possible dignified human life for all. But the tendency ‑‑ evident in the preparatory documents for this summit ‑‑ to consider open markets and economic growth as a panacea for almost all social ills, must be challenged. The assembly of the World Council of Churches in Canberra in 1991 reminded us that "growth for growth's sake is the strategy of a cancer cell". Just as humanity has developed a sense of the minimum which is required to satisfy basic human needs, so we should consider where the maximum limits lie before excess leads to ruin. Further, as world production has grown, so has the number of poor people. Globally, and in many cases at the national level too, the gap between rich and poor is widening, and economic growth is increasingly taking on the character of jobless growth, thereby contributing to greater inequality and exclusion. Apparently, economic growth alone does not solve social problems. If it is argued that economic growth is absolutely necessary to eradicate poverty, then why has it not done so during decades of growth‑oriented development strategies? We believe that it is time to rethink our arguments. Why not consider whether policies aimed at poverty reduction, long‑term employment generation and environmental restoration and protection will lead to sustainable human development? Such an approach contrasts with the prevailing thought which begins with economic processes and trusts against broad empirical evidence ‑ that the benefits will "trickle downö to all layers of society. Social and ecological policies come in only as a corrective or as an after‑thought. The alternative approach would require, from the outset, the active participation in decision‑making processes of those who are affected by such decisions. It would be a "building‑up" rather than a "trickle‑down" approach, starting with the needs of local communities and using these as the basis for global policies. This new direction is already being followed by several organizations. At the international level, for example, the United Nations Development Programme has developed the Human Development Index which qualifies economic growth by putting it alongside social development indicators. Organizations in civil society have demonstrated the effectiveness, both economically and financially, of community‑oriented development schemes. One such example is the Ecumenical Development Cooperative Society which gives loans to commercially viable enterprises which comply with a set of social objectives. Certain short‑term measures are needed to foster such alternative approaches. Some of the most urgent are: ‑ Strengthening the United Nations: more effective control over international economic actors such as transnational corporations must be established and the international financial and economic institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization, must be held accountable as envisaged by the Charter of the United Nations. ‑ Elimination of the external debt of the Least Developed Countries and reduction of at least 506 in the debt of the Middle Income Countries. This must be accompanied by a fundamental revision of the Structural Adjustment Policy, giving highest priority to social development and environmental protection. The "Alternative Structural Adjustment Programme", recently developed by organizations in civil society in Guyana, may serve as an example. ‑ Implementation of the United Nations target for Overseas Development Assistance of 0.7% of the Gross National Product by all OECD countries by the year 2000. Concerns about the quantity of foreign development assistance have to be combined with policies to improve the quality. Therefore, at least 20~ of official development assistance should be directed to social development areas and the fulfilment of basic needs for all. What can "the peoples of the world" expect from this World Summit on Social Development where so many laudable intentions are formulated? It seems to me that our current dilemma is that we use a social development model when we state our intentions, but that we apply an economic growth model when we act. Nothing short of a renewed and massive political will is required if we are to practise what we preach. The changes we need are not only administrative, legal, technical or technological, but changes in the direction of life‑oriented values, a change of hearts and of minds. Promoting cultures of solidarity and life has been a primary concern for faith communities all over the world. It is in this field that religious organizations can make their most important contribution. The issues at stake at this World Summit are profoundly challenging. We are willing to accept this challenge. Dr. Konrad Raiser World Council of Churches Case Postale 2100, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland Tel: +41-22/791 6216; Fax: +41-22/791 0361 Inaugural address by Ambassador Juan Somavía at the NGO Forum I am here to say that without you—all of you present here today and the millions that you represent—the World Summit for Social Development would not have been possible. You created the consciousness that made it necessary. You mobilized the support that made it a reality. You provided the experience and ideas that gave it direction. You proved, once again, that the United Nations of today and tomorrow, can only be relevant to people if it listens to and is influenced by, people’s organizations that constitute the rich and varied expressions of civil society and the non-governmental world. Many of you know my personal commitment to this vision. My applause goes out to you. To the Women’s Caucus, the Development Caucus, the Values Caucus, the International Council for Social Welfare, and all the regional caucuses, among so many of you who have accompanied the preparatory process. The Social Summit is a deep cry of alarm. In the most profound sense, it is a moral and ethical challenge to governments, business, media, trade unions, political parties, religious traditions, intellectuals, civil society in general, and all of us individually. It is a challenge to come together, to join forces and to actually give social development “the highest priority both now and into the 21st century,” as stated in the Summit’s declaration. If we don’t, so that public and private policies continue unchanged and present trends are left to grow unchecked, the expanding feeling of uncertainty and insecurity in the daily life of people will make our societies increasingly unliveable. The underlying and structural causes of the social tensions that are growing worldwide, find a common root in the growth of inequity in most societies. Thirty years ago, the total income of the people in the richest 20% bracket worldwide, including the rich of the Third World, was 30 times higher than the lowest 20%. That was already a scandal and yet today, it 60 times higher and in 30 more years—if present trends continue—it can soar to become 120 times higher. To imagine that this reality has no relation to the violence, drug abuse, corruption and moral decay surrounding us, is truly political blindness. As a result, the number of people living in poverty continues to grow—reaching more than one billion human beings throughout the world. Equally serious, 30% of the world’s active population—that is 820 million people, more women than men—are either unemployed or underemployed. Such disparity and polarization cannot continue if we aspire to societies that are safe, secure and cohesive. It is clear we are not moving towards more equality of opportunity for the dispossessed, but towards more concentration of opportunity for the well-off. This evolution is compounded by multiple expressions of moral indifference and comfortable self-righteousness towards the plight of others. More and more, we listen to voices that would have us believe that poverty is the fault of the poor, that exclusion is the responsibility of the excluded and that equality of opportunity is a reality that only the incompetent do not take advantage of. The Social Summit proposes a different vision and course of action. It says, and I quote: “We acknowledge that the people of the world have shown in different ways an urgent need to address profound social problems, especially poverty, unemployment and social exclusion that affect every country. “We acknowledge that our societies must respond more effectively to the material and spiritual needs of individuals, their families and their communities in which they live throughout our diverse countries and regions. “We must do so as a matter of urgency, but also as a matter of sustained and unshakable commitment through the years ahead. “It is our task to address both their underlying and structural causes and their distressing consequences in order to reduce uncertainty and insecurity in the life of people.” The goals and principles it pursues and the ten commitments it undertakes, are rooted in the basic notion that people matter, that human beings are important, that empowerment is possible, and that we must “place people at the centre of development and direct our economies to meet human needs more effectively.” The question now before us is how to turn words into action, declarations into policies and commitments into realities? To begin with, we seem to have forgotten three fundamental lessons of history. Firstly, successful development has always been accompanied by growing equity and solidarity. No developed society of today reached that status by increasing polarization and disparity. Unfortunately, even they have begun to backtrack on this road. Secondly, when social tensions are not dealt with through more, not less, social integration and cohesion, the easy option is to apply more authoritarian policies in order to control the situation. Thirdly, cohesive societies have a shared notion of a common good expressed in values and objectives that are different from, and often contrary to, the mere pursuit and interaction of individual interests in the marketplace. Additionally, don’t let anybody tell any of us that there are no resources. Resources are there. The real issue is priorities. We need new human priorities in all of our societies and in the workings of the world economy to make different use of the enormous public and private resources available. For example, today we are generally subsidizing, through tax benefits, research and development that leads to job-reducing technologies. At the same time, we are putting all the weight of the acquired social rights on the cost of employment. The result, of course, is increasing unemployment or poor quality employment. What would happen if we turned the equation around, and shifted tax benefits by reducing the burden of employment creation. If we continue to produce growth with little employment, we must eventually move away from tying to a paid job many essential components of human dignity. The contribution to society made by voluntary work, artists, the elderly, and most especially, by women through unpaid household work, together with cost-free use of the environment, are in fact subsidizing the economy. The women’s movement is rightfully demanding that this contribution be measured, if not renumerated, at least to factor in the invisible components of an economic system that ignores the actors which deserve a share of the benefits that they help to produce. Where would the concepts of efficiency and productivity prevailing in today’s economic mindset be without these unacknowledged subsidies? In the same manner, there is no doubt that all countries need to balance their budgets, and particularly developed countries who had in 1993 a combined yearly deficit of one thousand billion dollars. They naturally tap capital markets in order to close the gap. This has led to a combined accumulated public debt of ten thousand billion dollars in developed countries. If they become fiscally responsible, there would be much more capital available worldwide for investment at lower rates of interest. Many have embarked in this direction, but mainly by slashing social expenditures. Yet, the real political question is why should macroeconomic balances be achieved on the basis of unbalancing the life of people already living in the margins of our societies? Why should the weaker sectors of our communities bear the brunt of the adjustment process in any country? Why not look, for example, to a renegotiation of the public debt, to a further significant lowering of military investment, production, and trade as Mabub ul Haq has so systematically proposed, or to give tax incentives which stimulate use of private capital to address social needs. We should also look at appropriate fees to curb financial speculation, which Hazel Henderson calls the global casino, so aptly confirmed by the recent collapse of the Barings Bank of Britain on the basis of a 27 billion dollar bet that went sour. What is painfully obvious is that we need to innovate in our economic thinking. More of the same will simply not do, and yet more of the same is what most countries are doing today. The work of Peggy Antrobus and the recent Oslo Fjord Declaration clearly highlight this problem. Another dimension is the need to create a positive consensus for change. This is very difficult when media normally reflect the negative news of our societies. Information and communication, most especially television, have indeed become the power of powers today. We need committed individuals behind those cameras joining in the challenge of overcoming the dogma that only conflict and violence sell, while conflict resolution, consensus building, and success stories lack the interest the market requires to consider them “news.” We need the media that values social cohesion rather than systematically projecting social disintegration. We need to address creatively the contradictions between the summit’s goals, principles, and commitments and the weak and limited array of instruments that present public and private policies offer to solve these problems. We need to dare to think differently from prevailing trends. We need social and political leadership which dares to lead. By bringing social development into the centre of world politics, the summit wants to stimulate this discussion and provide a new awareness and consciousness around the fact that security of people is the true security challenge of the 21st century. Civil society and the non-governmental world must claim a major role to implement the Social Summit. You must deepen you own commitment to change. You must make visible the creative solutions that are possible at the grassroot and local levels, when people are truly involved. You must link and network your global presence on gender issues, environment, workers’ rights, population, peace, trade and social questions into a powerful and united force that can spearhead a worldwide, civil society movement. You must interrelate the multiple and unconnected local initiatives with your global vision and capacity to mobilize action. You must be the conscience of the World Social Summit by engaging governments and all other social actors in dialogue and debate on the new national and international priorities that are needed to really put people first. You must confront the development fatigue state of mind of many bureaucracies and political leaders in developed countries, by making it evident that ordinary people are still prepared to engage in international solidarity when the cause is just and the monies are well spent. You must reach out to your opponents and connect with them, because even those you feel are declared adversaries of your ideas have in part of their hearts the capacity to do good. You must become the instruments of accountability for a better world. Finally, let me tell you that this is not a summit of hopelessness; a gathering to say that nothing can be done. On the contrary, it is a summit to find new directions, to say that change is possible and to affirm that however dark things may look, however impotent we may sometimes feel as individuals, the strength of the human spirit will prevail. We will not give up. The greatest strength of any society is for us never to lose the conviction that justice is not only necessary, but ultimately possible, and that motivated and committed human beings can make a difference. I congratulate you on what you have done. I invite you to grasp the banners of the Social Summit to help make it a reality. And above all, I want you to know that I am a part of you, that I share your ideals and your passions, and that hand in hand, all of us together—and the millions that you represent—we shall break the barriers that contain us and find the answers that we still don’t see today. Ambassador Juan Somavia (Chile) Chairman, World Summit for Social DevelopmentDirectory: images images -> Pelan pentaksiran kursus images -> Military callsign list as of dec 2010 images -> For Date: 02/01/2013 Friday Call Number Time Call Reason Action 13-768 0008 motor vehicle stop warning Issued images -> New embedded S images -> Creating Buy-In – Building Relationships images -> Deadline: Saturday, March 12th, 2016 images -> News items from Raising Our Voices images -> Last year four of the best Afrikaans Christian singers joined forces to tour Down Under with the production ‘Manne wat Glo’ images -> World-renowned vocal ensemble sweet honey in the rock images -> Peoples Voice Café History Download 0.58 Mb. Share with your friends:
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