September 22, 2010

The general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, wrote today in a letter to UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon that "without significant transformations in global economic frameworks the attainment of the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals) by 2015 is endangered."

Referring to the current UN high-level summit on the MDGs taking place in New York, the letter expressed concern that governments need to do more to address the root causes of poverty. The MDGs were adopted by world leaders in 2000.

Without addressing the root causes of poverty, justice-oriented reforms will not be possible, Tveit said in the letter. And it is these reforms that will end inequality in the current world economic structures.

"In today's globalized world, efforts by nations to meet the MDGs are more and more contingent on an "enabling international economic environment," Tveit continued. "The WCC believes that addressing the root causes of poverty and the attainment of the MDGs necessitates significant and comprehensive changes in the international financial architecture and trade regime."

The WCC is a fellowship of some 349 member churches from around the world including Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican and some Pentecostal and Evangelical churches representing nearly 550 million Christians.

Full text of the letter: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?id=2267&rid=f_13684&mid=2542&aC=63bab3c8&jumpurl=1.

WCC statement to the UN, 14-15 June, 2010: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?id=2267&rid=f_13684&mid=2542&aC=63bab3c8&jumpurl=2.

WCC work on poverty,wealth and ecology and the impact of economic globalization: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?id=2267&rid=f_13684&mid=2542&aC=63bab3c8&jumpurl=3.

World Council of Churches