Christians push World Trade Organization for justice
-22/07/05
The mobilisation of churches and advocacy groups that highlighted economic injustice during the summit of G8 leading industrial nations in Scotland earlier in July 2005 was not a one-off event, writes Peter Kenny of Ecumenical News International.
At the moment they are focussing on the upcoming general council meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Geneva-based body that regulates global commerce. Geneva’s Ecumenical Centre, home to the World Council of Churches, is to host a series of conferences and seminars around trade and the WTO, to coincide with the meeting.
The July WTO meeting will seek to hammer out the framework for its December Ministerial Summit in Hong Kong, where new trade formulas and rules set to impact on global trade will be presented.
The other 25-29 July gathering that will run parallel to the WTO meeting is coordinated by the Geneva People’s Alliance, a coalition of non governmental organizations, civil society and social movements that includes church and faith-based organizations.
The alliance announced at a media conference on 7 July that around 60 groups from around the world decided to convene, to better monitor the WTO negotiations, many of which are brokered in Geneva.
Linda Hartke, who heads the Geneva-based Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, said her grouping of more than 90 churches and church-related organizations around the world is active in the campaign for trade justice. Some in her alliance are small and others have more than 100 million members. They come from places like Tonga, Malaysia, Belarus, India, the UK, Switzerland, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the US, Canada and Brazil.
“Faith communities are extraordinarily diverse, but across all traditions there is a common vision and call for justice in the world, and a growing understanding that this must include justice in the policies and practices of trade – where politics and profits for the powerful few have become the aim, rather than putting people first, and among them the poorest,” said Hartke.
She explained that the teachings of the Bible, the Qurían, the Talmud and other sacred texts “compel us to challenge the powerful, to work for justice, and always to stand with and for the poor”.
Hartke noted that despite the “complexity and deliberate mystery” that surrounds trade negotiations, it emerges that trade policies are not fair; they are not working for the whole world; and trade policies are making the poor poorer.
She quoted the Rev Robert Aboagye-Mensah of the Christian Council of Ghana who said: “International trade between my country and the West is like an antelope and a giraffe competing for food which is at the top of a tree. You can make the ground beneath their feet level, but the contest will still not be fair.”
[With grateful acknowledgement to ENI]
Christians push World Trade Organization for justice
-22/07/05
The mobilisation of churches and advocacy groups that highlighted economic injustice during the summit of G8 leading industrial nations in Scotland earlier in July 2005 was not a one-off event, writes Peter Kenny of Ecumenical News International.
At the moment they are focussing on the upcoming general council meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Geneva-based body that regulates global commerce. Geneva’s Ecumenical Centre, home to the World Council of Churches, is to host a series of conferences and seminars around trade and the WTO, to coincide with the meeting.
The July WTO meeting will seek to hammer out the framework for its December Ministerial Summit in Hong Kong, where new trade formulas and rules set to impact on global trade will be presented.
The other 25-29 July gathering that will run parallel to the WTO meeting is coordinated by the Geneva People’s Alliance, a coalition of non governmental organizations, civil society and social movements that includes church and faith-based organizations.
The alliance announced at a media conference on 7 July that around 60 groups from around the world decided to convene, to better monitor the WTO negotiations, many of which are brokered in Geneva.
Linda Hartke, who heads the Geneva-based Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, said her grouping of more than 90 churches and church-related organizations around the world is active in the campaign for trade justice. Some in her alliance are small and others have more than 100 million members. They come from places like Tonga, Malaysia, Belarus, India, the UK, Switzerland, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the US, Canada and Brazil.
“Faith communities are extraordinarily diverse, but across all traditions there is a common vision and call for justice in the world, and a growing understanding that this must include justice in the policies and practices of trade – where politics and profits for the powerful few have become the aim, rather than putting people first, and among them the poorest,” said Hartke.
She explained that the teachings of the Bible, the Qur’an, the Talmud and other sacred texts “compel us to challenge the powerful, to work for justice, and always to stand with and for the poor”.
Hartke noted that despite the “complexity and deliberate mystery” that surrounds trade negotiations, it emerges that trade policies are not fair; they are not working for the whole world; and trade policies are making the poor poorer.
She quoted the Rev Robert Aboagye-Mensah of the Christian Council of Ghana who said: “International trade between my country and the West is like an antelope and a giraffe competing for food which is at the top of a tree. You can make the ground beneath their feet level, but the contest will still not be fair.”
[With grateful acknowledgement to ENI]