Clergy press UN on agenda

"The leadership from the [developing] world is a new element," says Peter Vander Meulen, head of the US chapter of Micah Challenge, a global Evangelical network that promotes the millennium goals. "We need the humility as US Christians to listen carefully to our brothers from overseas. When they say free trade may not be fair trade, we need to pay attention."

Micah Challenge is working to enlist Evangelicals, based on the biblical call in Micah 6:8 ("What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God"). This week it is joining other religious groups for an interfaith vigil, prayer, fasting, and advocacy at the UN. The groups will press US leaders to increase America's aid budget.

At a gathering of world leaders in 2000, the so-called Millennium Declaration set out goals and targets. Some 191 countries have committed to try to achieve them. When economic studies showed that the costs were affordable, world leaders meeting in Mexico in 2002 endorsed a spending target for development assistance of 0.7 percent of GNP.

Five countries have reached that target; Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. Others have set timetables for doing so. The US has doubled its aid, but still spends only 0.16 percent, the lowest of the rich nations.

Recently, US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton sought to eliminate even a mention of the development goals from the summit's main paper. The global reaction was so intense that the US backed down.

Religious leaders say there is public support for a greater US commitment, and they aim to help rally it. A November 2004 poll by the One Campaign, a coalition of faith-based and antipoverty groups, found that 86 percent of Americans agreed it was important for the US to put forward "a new effort to work together with other countries to help the poorest people in the world overcome AIDS and extreme poverty."

A Pew Research Center survey taken last month found that 69 percent of Americans favor more generous assistance to the poor, even if it means more taxes.

Since Katrina, many expect those views to strengthen.

"I would hope that as people see our own vulnerability in the face of calamity, we would see the parallels to the situation people are facing in the developing world," says Dennis Frado, director of the Lutheran Office of World Community.

Many young people of faith are also embracing the antipoverty agenda. Faith groups are part of a "young global leaders" summit on poverty held in New York this weekend, which kicked off a national youth movement to promote global justice and fulfillment of the millennium goals.

By 2015, all 191 United Nations member states have pledged to meet these goals:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.

2. Achieve universal primary education.

3. Promote gender equality and empower women.

4. Reduce child mortality.

5. Improve maternal health.

6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.

7. Ensure environmental sustainability.

8. Develop a global partnership for development.

Source: www.un.org

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