London Forum on G-8—‘action on poverty needed now’

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July 2005

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London Forum on G-8—‘action on poverty needed now’
A group of church leaders from the United Kingdom and the United States has called for decisive action and firm commitments on poverty from the world’s G-8 leaders as G-8 officials meet in Scotland July 6 - 8. In an historic gesture of unity, over 35 British and American leaders of churches and faith-based organizations gathered in London for an ecumenical Forum to discuss, pray, and reflect on the tragedy of global poverty.

"The massive reality of global hunger and poverty has revealed our own spiritual poverty and is bringing us together," says the London Forum's co-convener, Rev. Jim Wallis, who is executive director of Sojourners. "We believe God is active on the issue of poverty."

The American and British delegation includes leaders from the Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox, Pentecostal, Mainline Protestant, and Evangelical faith traditions. More than 62 million people of faith will be represented at the first London Forum of Religious Leaders on the G8 Summit.

More than 1.2 billion people—more than one in five on Earth—currently live below the international poverty line, earning less than $1 per day. The G8 leaders recently agreed to forgive 100 percent of the $40 billion the 18 poorest countries on earth owe to the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and African Development Bank. While those attending the London Forum offer different perspectives on the paths to take in ending global poverty, they have come together in seeing that poverty is the most compelling moral issue that the G8 leaders should address.

"2005 is a year of decision that will affect the lives of hungry and poor people for decades to come," said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. "Americans of all theological and political stripes have come together to call on President Bush and other world leaders to act now to overcome hunger, extreme poverty, and disease. Doesn't our faith require us to make this plea for 'the least of these' among us?"

The London Forum issued a final communiqué saying that the time for change is now. The communiqué calls upon G-8 leaders to, “provide courageous and costly leadership by providing the resources and making the structural changes necessary to eradicate poverty.”

Earlier some of the delegates had what they described as a ‘constructive’ meeting with UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown.

The text of the full communiqué follows:

The London Forum
Church Leaders’ Statement on the G-8

There is no place for apathy in a world which sees 30,000 children die each day because of poverty-related conditions. The Bible teaches that whatever we do to the poorest we do also to Jesus. We believe God judges nations by what they do to the poorest. This means all of us in the prosperous world, governments, churches, the media and populations stand under judgement, to the degree that we fail to respond to such a situation with costly compassion and generosity, so that we may help in God’s name and by God’s grace to secure justice for the poor.

The upcoming G-8 Summit is a challenge to the world’s leaders to take decisive action on behalf of those living in extreme poverty.

As leaders of churches and faith-based organisations from the United States and the United Kingdom in conversation with voices from the global South, we have gathered at Lambeth to strengthen our commitment to end extreme poverty on the occasion of the G-8 Summit.

For the first time in history, humanity possesses the information, knowledge, technology, and resources to bring the worst of global poverty virtually to an end. What is missing is sufficient political and moral will. As church leaders from diverse Christian traditions, we re-commit ourselves and our faith communities to help generate that moral will at this critical historical juncture. We call upon President George Bush, Prime Minister Tony Blair, and the other G-8 leaders to provide courageous and costly political leadership by providing the resources and making the structural changes necessary to eradicate poverty.

We applaud the progress being made in some of the poorest nations of the world on governance issues and commend the part played by churches and other faith-based communities in those countries in sustaining and supporting essential health and education infrastructures for the benefit of all. We recognise the necessity of proper investment in that infrastructure by governments and NGOs. We also commit to continuing our solid support for the role played by partner churches and pastors in those countries ensuring ongoing delivery of progress on poverty reduction by their governments.

We also applaud momentum being built by grass roots campaigns around the world who are addressing these issues and pledge to mobilise our energies, in partnership with faith leaders from the Global South, to realise common goals emerging from these campaigns and the Millennium Development Goals:

Debt—The recent agreement on 100 percent debt cancellation for eighteen of the world’s poorest countries represents a major step forward that should now be expanded to include all multilateral creditors and more impoverished and heavily indebted nations.

Aid—The moral scandal of extreme poverty requires that the wealthy nations do much more to assist the poorest countries in fighting poverty, hunger and disease through a dramatic improvement in the quantity and quality of aid. We are also united in the call for good governance and an end to the corruption that undermines all nations and people. Conditions attached to aid and debt cancellation must not be used to reinforce existing patterns of inequality that undermine pro-poor policies of local governments.

Trade—The structural inequities and power imbalances in trade rules that tilt toward the rich nations at the expense of impoverished nations must be reformed so that people can earn a sustainable income and the private sector can generate jobs and wealth for the common good. Rich countries must reform their subsidies to prevent the dumping of produce on world markets and strengthen special and differential treatment for poor countries so that they are able to protect vulnerable producers and develop new industries.

This is the agenda for young people and old together. We are all too aware that it is the poor who pay the greatest price of ecological degradation. It is women and children who bear the disproportionate costs of poverty while bearing also the greatest hope as agents for change. This is the time for change. We trust that by the grace of God we may all have the courage to change the course of history in favour of the world’s poorest.

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