Mercy Global Concern - 2006

Mercy Global Concern: Briefing paper 2, January 2006

“U.N. Reform: Can the Churches make a Difference?”

This question was explored by a panel organised in the UN by the World Council of Churches on 12th January 2006. Mr. Jan Eliasson, President of the General Assembly gave a keynote address. Members of the World Council including former WCC General Secretary Dr. Konrad Raiser and Ms. Salpy Eskidjian, responded to his address.

Mr. Jan Eliasson said we are living a dramatic paradox. On one hand we face problems that spread across national borders – war, terrorism, trafficking in persons, HIV/AIDS pandemic. Only global solutions can solve these global problems. At the same time deep suspicion and widespread mistrust make cooperation among UN member states much harder. We must face this fear factor.

We can’t afford the luxury of factionalism; a them/us mentality will not work; we must build bridges to link us, not walls to separate us.

As well as presenting these threats to international cooperation, Mr. Eliasson stressed some good news stories and improvements in the world.

• The speed of communication means that nothing and no one can escape scrutiny for long.
  
• There is much further to go but some progress has been made in lessening extreme poverty. .

Holding up a glass of water he said: ‘This clean water is an absolute luxury for 1.3 billion people in the world today. Millions of women and girls have to walk several miles to get water and risk being raped on the way’.

Security, Development and Human Rights are inseparably linked as the basis of UN reform. Too often one of these is stressed at the expense of the other two elements in the UN.

The paradox named above challenges us to prove we can operate in new and cooperative ways. The UN must be the catalyst to enable such international cooperation.

• We must do prevention better. Unfortunately prevention is not rewarded, so we wait for a crisis to happen and then pick up the pieces afterwards.

The September Summit made some important new decisions:

• A Peacebuilding Commission to help countries emerging from conflict with reconstruction, development, reconciliation and setting up basic institutions.
  
• The Human Rights Commission will become the Human Rights Council. Mutual suspicion among member states makes it harder to agree the basic shape of the Council.
  
• Revitalising the Economic and Social Council to better promote development for all.
  
• Setting up a UN Emergency Fund to be able to immediately respond to crises rather than wait weeks or months for donations.

He said the UN certainly needs better oversight and accountability. But we must not overlook the immense good being done by the UN. The bottom line is: we face the test of international cooperation and multilateralism. Will we move into the future together? Or in factions?
Respondents to Mr. Eliasson’s presentation made many significant points.
Reform is an ongoing process. The Churches have been involved in the UN from its conception: in helping to shape the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Charter Preamble. The idea of ODA - that rich governments give .07% of their GNP to help developing countries.

Our strength as Religious communities is that so many of our members live and work close to people on the ground. They are daily involved in building sustainable communities.

We can best help the UN reform by truly being church and continuing to build true, human, just community, in fostering justice, peace and the integrity of creation and ecological sustainability.

The Churches must be a presence and introduce a critical voice to reform of the world order. Every suggested reform must answer the question: will the reform serve the most vulnerable?’

The equality of all before God is the theological underpinning of the UN. Justice must bind together the interlinked elements of human rights, security and development. Member states have 2 conflicting vocabularies: one language and code of conduct at UN headquarters, in the WTO, IFIs; But their language, and behaviour back home in their capitals often contradicts the other.

Can the Churches make a difference? Difference for whom? Difference for what? We must ask will the UN reforms help Rima walled into Bethlehem believe that UN resolutions will help her and her children to experience freedom? Will they help 15 year-old Flavio, in a favela of Brazil, find a life without guns so he can live beyond the age of 17? Will little Agnes’ grandmother from South Africa be able to buy medicine for her orphaned granddaughter born with HIV? Will Mahatma from India get access to safe and clean water for his family?

The Churches must speak loudly as the conscience of governments. We must remind them the real purpose of UN reform is to make life better for those forced to live in poverty. Will the UN agenda make a real difference in the lives of Rima, Flavio, Agnes and Mahatma? Who develops the agenda? Can we ensure our poor sisters and brothers have the space to air their concerns?

There must be an engagement with all people. Decisions must be inclusive. Threats are interconnected and we have a shared responsibility to all people. We need to raise our vision.

At this critical time, we are all called to conversion, to change our way of thinking. We must recognise that we stand together, or we fall apart. This is no longer the Northern agenda against the South or West against East or vice versa. This is our common agenda:

Nothing is outside the concern of the churches. We are still a bit caught in the ‘charity’ trap. That was effective 60 years ago, but does not fit today. Now we must work to build just structures and build equality. What is freedom of the press worth, if people cannot read?

It’s not just leaders who make a difference to the way our societies function in the wider world. Sisters of Mercy and caring individuals can make an impact as well. UN reform needs vigorous moral imagination. The churches and religious communities should have something to contribute to this. We must keep the aspirations, expectations, and dreams of people in tension with the practical problems to be faced.