wfn.org | United Methodists seek commitment to action at summit

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Aug. 30, 2002      News media contact: Joretta Purdue7(202)
546-87227Washington     10-21-71B{383}

By United Methodist News Service

While U.S. officials draw fire for their half-hearted participation in the
U.N. World Summit on Sustainable Development, a United Methodist delegation
is at work urging environment-friendly ways to reduce poverty. 

Eleven United Methodists - four from the denomination's Board of Global
Ministries and seven from the Board of Church and Society - are part of an
80-member ecumenical team organized by the World Council of Churches to
attend the summit and the parallel Global Social Forum for non-governmental
and civil society organizations. The Aug. 26-Sept. 4 summit is being held in
Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa.

"We are here to provide a faith perspective on issues of sustainability and
give voice to those who have been marginalized or excluded from the
process," says John Hill, a Board of Church and Society program director for
environmental justice.

As laid out in the church's resolution "Environmental Justice for a
Sustainable Future," United Methodists hold that shalom is based on the
integration of environmental, economic and social justice, Hill explains. 

"Those are the core issues facing the global community gathered here, and we
have a deep concern that industry and the 'haves' have hijacked the agenda
with no accountability to the people and the 'have-nots.' The faith
community's call is to offer a faithful witness and ensure that these
discussions are grounded in the core values of justice."

Jaydee Hanson, a senior staff executive with the Board of Church and
Society, notes, "Early in the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the
United States and the European Union made clear that they would veto any
attempts to reconsider the meager promises made at the U.N. Financing for
Development Conference in Monterrey, Mexico, earlier this year."

He adds that they also insist that the World Trade Organization should be
the only body to consider the efforts on poverty and the environment of the
world's trading system. 

"The U.S. delegation to the summit has promised to block any efforts to
strengthen financing available for development or that would require
specific commitments from nations," Hanson states.

A key aspect of the U.S. presence in Johannesburg has been the announcement
of a number of U.S. initiatives to help Africa, Hanson reports. "These
initiatives include new programs for agriculture, renewable energy, water
safety, forestry in the Congo Basin and fighting hunger.  Unfortunately, the
U.S. delegation admitted that except for about $200 million for the
agricultural program, there is now no new money in the agencies responsible
for these initiatives and that additional funding is not likely in the next
year's U.S. federal budget.

"The United States is supporting business partnerships, instead of ...
helping to finance United Nations programs," he says. "Development
specialists here believe that increased partnerships between business and
larger nations like India, Mexico and South Africa can be very productive,
but the needs of the poorest nations of the world cannot be met by these
business partnerships."  

Hanson cites a businessman at the meeting who said, "I am in business to
make money and I cannot see a way to make money in some of the poorest
nations."  

"Some of the proposed partnerships could even make life for the poor worse,"
Hanson says. He explains that partnerships that would privatize the
ownership of water and make everyone pay for the delivery of water could
deny this basic need to many poor farmers. "Trade that benefits only the
rich in these nations could even make the poverty of the poorest people
worse."

Andris Y. Salter of the Woman's Division Board of Global Ministries says the
church must stand firm to move the summit beyond debate to action - "real
action where needs are met, where investment is in lives and commitment is
not just expected but occurs. And these commitments should have methods for
tracking, monitoring and holding groups accountable when these commitments
are broken."

David Wildman, a Board of Global Ministries executive for human rights and
racial justice, believes the success will be measured in the follow-up work

"We have come together to commit ourselves to well-being and fullness of
life for all God's children and to work towards restoring wholeness to a
world where resources are abused and unfairly consumed by some while others
go in need," he asserts.  

Wildman reports that several African members of the ecumenical team, meeting
in a pre-Summit orientation, asked, "How can we talk about 'sustainable
development' when so many of our sisters and brothers can barely survive -
with no safe drinking water, no sanitation, making $1 a day, with not enough
food for their children?" 

"As United Methodists, in addition to our call to witness here in
Johannesburg," Hill remarks, "I believe we have an equally important call to
bring the voices and stories we have heard here back home - to exchange
views and experience with the residents of Johannesburg and the citizens
from around the world gathered here and then share those messages with our
own communities and congregations."

The Rev. Liberato C. Bautista, the Board of Church and Society's main
representative to the United Nations, notes that non-governmental and
non-state organizations play a critical role in the summit process by their
advocacy of issues within the summit grounds, combining both grass-roots and
international experiences. All but one of the United Methodists have
attended at least one of the previous meetings held in various parts of the
world in an effort to prepare for this global event.

He estimates that there about 20,000 representatives of the non-governmental
groups attending the summit and the related Global Social Forum.

More than 100 presidents and prime ministers are expected to attend the
summit itself, according to news reports. Although leaders of most European
nations are expected, U.S. President George W. Bush will not attend.
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United Methodist News Service
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