Economies must prioritize people over profits

UN Conference on Financing for Development concludes with a call for urgent action to reform unjust global economy

(LWI) - In a world where governments and financial institutions are balancing their books on the backs of the poor, faith communities must mobilize their networks to demand a fairer global economic order: one that puts the needs of people and the planet above the accumulation of profits and power. That was the call from churches and civil society groups at the conclusion of a major Conference on Financing for Development held in Seville, Spain.

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) joined ecumenical partners and other civil society organizations in denouncing the outcome document from the UN meeting, for its lack of significant progress towards resolving a spiraling debt crisis, a climate emergency and a growing gap between rich and poor. But delegates also pledged to continue pushing for change, urging churches to mobilize their networks to challenge governments and propose bold and innovative alternatives to the current unjust economic system.

At the end of the 30 June to 3 July conference, LWF Senior Advocacy Advisor Fabián Wilches said delegates left with “mixed feelings of disappointment for the restrictions on civil society groups in the process of shaping the outcome document.” At the same time, he welcomed “the opportunities to engage with partners to work for an inclusive, democratic system of global economic governance which prioritizes not private profits, but rather the human rights of all people and the protection of the most vulnerable in our societies.”

Legacies of exploitation

During the Seville conference and preceding Civil Society Forum, advocates from around the world spoke about the ways in which crushing debts, unfair trade and tax rules and a lack of access to the tables of economic decision-making are destabilizing governments and leaving them unable to provide basic services for their citizens. Around half the world’s population – 3.4 billion people – now live in countries where governments spend more on repaying debts than on health, education, food security and housing.

Delegates heard how illegal logging in Peru has led to widespread deforestation, threatening the region’s biodiversity and destroying rainforests where indigenous communities have lived for centuries. In Papua, environmental advocates have led protests against nickel mining which threatens marine life around many of the small islands in the Indonesian archipelago. In the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria, big oil companies are polluting the land, air and water, making huge profits while local people fall deeper into poverty.

“Our economies are mainly extractive and our countries are rich in resources but this does not benefit local communities, as the contracts and conditions date back to the colonial period,” noted Uhuru Dempers, director of the desk for social development at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia and advisor to the LWF Council’s Committee on Advocacy and Public Voice. “Over 70 percent of productive agricultural land in Namibia is owned by descendants of settlers from the era of German and South African colonization. There is no regard for workers’ rights and no transparency, but instead we see a lot of tax avoidance and illicit financial flows,” he said.

“The global financial system isn’t working for us young people,” said Rev. Jackline Makena Mutuma, a pastor of the Methodist Church in Kenya. “Unemployment is as high as 60 percent in some countries. Poor health and malnutrition are a lived reality because money is spent on servicing the debt instead. Debt kills development. The church is called to boldly speak truth to power and to empower people. Yet too often the church stays silent and fails young people, because it treats us as passive recipients of ministry, rather than active agents of change,” she said.

“We cannot say business as usual,” said Rev. Philip Peacock, executive secretary for Justice and Witness of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC). “As faith communities, we offer an alternative imagination, putting life at the center because we believe in people, not just profits,” he said, highlighting the vision of the ecumenical platform for a New International Financial and Economic Architecture (NIFEA). The platform, which includes the LWF, the WCRC, the World Council of Churches, the World Methodist Council and the Council for World Mission, highlights the ethical issues underlying the current political, economic and environmental crises and calls for urgent action on debt relief, tax and trade reforms, as well as a more inclusive system of global financial governance,

“Isaiah 61 reminds us that we are called to bring good news to the poor but what good news is there in today’s financial system?” asked Alistair Dutton, Secretary General of the Catholic aid and development confederation Caritas Internationalis. Alongside protectionist tariffs, tax havens and punitive interest rates for developing countries, he noted how recent months have seen huge cuts in overseas development aid, leaving 300 million people in need of life-saving humanitarian assistance. “We are balancing the books on the backs of the poor, undermining years of development progress, but these cuts are self-defeating,” he warned. “Aid cuts will destabilize countries, create more wars, generate more terrorism and force more people to flee to the West.”

LWF is supporting the Caritas-led campaign ‘Turn Debt into Hope’, which is working to generate global momentum for debt forgiveness. A Vatican-commissioned Jubilee Report, led by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and former Argentinian minister of the economy Martín Guzmán, was published in June, emphasizing the biblical principles of justice, restoration and solidarity. “We will follow up and continue to engage with our ecumenical and other partners to advance this vital work,” said Daniel Pieper, Program Director of the LWF’s office at the UN in New York. “We are committed to working towards a more just economic order which protects the planet and upholds the human dignity of all people.”