wfn.org | WCC - Ecumenical team gives priority to "transformation

["Sheila Mesa" <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

of the international financial system" 

World Council of Churches
Press Feature, Feat-01-18
For Immediate Use
24 October 2001

International Conference on Financing for Development in 2002:
 
Ecumenical team gives priority to "transformation of the
international financial system" 

An ecumenical team following United Nations (UN) preparatory
work for a conference on financing for development said that "the
heart of the matter'' is justice rather than monetary questions.
Current models of development must be subjected to critique
because "a moral vision calls for full participation of all
communities, especially those marginalized by poverty and
disempowerment," the team said.  

Government delegates gathered at UN headquarters in New York
15-19 October for the conclusion of the third prepcom
(preparatory committee) for the International Conference on
Financing for Development to be held at Monterey, Mexico, 18-22
March 2002. A 21-member team in New York to follow discussions
and interact with delegates was coordinated by the World Council
of Churches (WCC) in cooperation with the Lutheran World
Federation (LWF). Gail Lerner, a member of the WCC staff based at
the Church Center for the UN, said most of these members, plus
some others, would also attend a fourth prepcom in New York in
January, and then the Monterey conference itself.  

Some of the ecumenical team members also attended earlier
preparatory sessions, and a team response to draft versions of
the UN document delegates will consider in Monterey has been
written and updated as the new drafts appeared, she said.  

Changing the system

The UN draft, which will get another revision in the light of
the October discussions, begins with a call for "mobilizing
domestic financial resources for development", continues with
treatment of international private resources, 
international trade, international financial cooperation and
debt, and ends with a sixth and final point on "addressing
systemic issues".  

Turning the UN outline around, the ecumenical team gave priority
to "transformation of the international financial system".  

Then, instead of considering "sustainable debt financing" or
debt relief, the team demanded "immediate outright cancellation"
of debt for the heavily-indebted poor countries, "substantial
debt reduction" for middle-income countries, and elimination of
"structural adjustment programmes" imposed by the international
financial institutions.  

As a part of changing the overall system, the team called for
letting the UN rather than the International Monetary Fund and
World Bank take the lead on economic issues. "To assure the
democratization of the international financial system, the UN
must be the central pillar for international finance and economic
structures," the team said.  

New economic models possible

Commenting on the October session, team members said they heard
some of the wealthier countries resisting change and contending
that the existing capitalist or "neo-liberal" model was the only
one possible. However, team members also reported hearing calls
for new approaches. They expressed confidence that a useful
process has been set in motion, even if the results of the
Monterey meeting turn out to be disappointing.  

Patricio Castillo-Pena, a Methodist from Chile, said that in the
past, economics allowed no room for the social aspects of
development, but that discussions in the Monterey process showed
that changes in thought are underway.  

Hellen Wangusa, an Anglican from Uganda, said change is
necessary because "people on the ground are not happy with the
record of the IMF and the World Bank", and want the UN as a more
democratic body to supersede them.  

Taimalelagi Fagamalama, a lay archdeacon from Samoa who became
Anglican observer at the UN in August, said people thinking of
poverty tend to have Africa in mind, but that her own country is
one of the least developed and insists on attention for its
situation as well.  

Although the ecumenical team was diverse in religious background
as well as geography, members found themselves able to agree on
basic points. Wendy Flannery, a Roman Catholic Sister of Mercy
from Australia, reported a "strong convergence". Demba Moussa
Dembele, a Muslim from Senegal, said he sees issues such as debt
cancellation, privatization and financing of development in much
the same way as Christians on the team saw them.  

Hans Morten Haugen, a Norwegian Lutheran who works on
international affairs for his church and also served on the
Norwegian delegation to the prepcom, said delegates and other
representatives of non-governmental organizations admired the
ecumenical team for its careful preparation. The team had impact
not only as a group, but also through the leadership that
individual members gave to NGO groups focusing on particular
themes, he said.  
________________________________

The WCC was mandated by its 1998 assembly in Zimbabwe to take up
the challenge of globalization as a central part of the
ecumenical agenda. Since then, the WCC has been working to
promote better understanding of the impact of economic
globalization and to provide an ecumenical platfom to respond to
its consequences. It is also preparing for two upcoming global
events: a UN Financing for Development (FFD) Summit in March 2002
in Mexico, and a September 2002 World Summit on Sustainable
Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg.  

For further information, please contact Karin Achtelstetter,
Media Relations Officer           Tel:  (+41.22) 791.61.53, 
Mobile:  (+41) 79.284.52.12

**********
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches,
now 342, in more than 100 countries in all continents from
virtually all Christian traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is
not a member church but works cooperatively with the WCC. The
highest governing body is the assembly, which meets approximately
every seven years. The WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general
secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

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