wfn.org | Title: Latin American Churches to target international

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Release PR-03-16
For Immediate Use
24 April 2003

Latin American Churches to target international financial institutions

Leaders of Latin American and Caribbean churches are preparing to tell the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank what they think of their
policies.

The Latin American churches have long tried to mitigate the suffering and
pain caused by economic globalisation with pastoral care. Now, they intend to
develop a new understanding of the churches' role in relation to economic
justice. 

To that end, some forty leaders of Latin American and Caribbean churches will
be among those attending a continent-wide consultation on "Globalizing the
Fullness of Life" taking place from 28 April  to 1 May	in Buenos Aires,
Argentina. 

The consultation is being organised by the Faith, Economy and Society
programme of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI), with the support
of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and other ecumenical organisations. It
aims to share information and analysis of the socio-economic situation and to
explore alternatives to neo-liberal globalisation.

"We don't intend to complain about the inevitability of globalisation or the
lack of alternatives," explained Faith, Economy and Society programme
coordinator Angel Luis Rivera. - "And it's not the moment to take refuge in
so-called resistance." Rather, it is a question of "doing thorough analysis,
asking the right questions and mutually challenging ourselves to take
action".

Planned initiatives include doing more determined lobbying and advocacy work
with the governments of the countries of the north, particularly of the
United States of America and Canada, and with the international financial
institutions: the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World
Trade Organisation.

Representatives of the Latin American churches hope to be able to hold talks
with these institutions in the second half of this year - continuing a
process that began in April 2002, when church leaders met with
representatives from the Inter-American Development Bank.

A focus of discussion at all of these meetings will be a paper "Looking for
solutions... moving forward. Protestant churches say 'Enough is enough!'".
Drafted by sociologists, economists, theologians and pastors, the document
will be presented in Buenos Aires by CLAI general secretary Israel Batista,
and submitted to church leaders for discussion.

Together with the World Council of Churches the consultation is also being
supported by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the
Conference of European Churches (CEC). They are sending delegates from
churches and ecumenical bodies in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and
the Pacific, who will add an international perspective to the proceedings. 

The consultation is part of an ecumenical process which began in 2001 with
regional consultations in eastern Europe and the Pacific. Similar
consultations are planned next year in the United States of America and the
Middle East. The results of the process will be collated and summarised in
2005.

A Latin American youth meeting on "Youth and Globalisation", jointly
organised by CLAI youth and the WCC youth programme will take place in Buenos
Aires just before the consultation, from 24-27 April. Some of the young
people will present the conclusions of the youth meeting to the "Globalizing
the Fullness of Life" consultation.    

For further information, please contact the Media Relations Office,  
tel: +41 (0)22 791 6421 /6153

**********

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.

World Council of Churches
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