PRESS CONFERENCE ON MICAH CHALLENGE

 

Answering the call of the prophet Micah to “act justly, love kindness and walk humbly with God”, the Micah Challenge sought to galvanize Christians around the world to hold governments accountable to attaining the Millennium Development Goals, correspondents were told at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

Stressing the Christian’s divine mandate to make a better life for all, Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of Cape Town, South Africa, said that Jesus Christ had come so that all people might have life in all its abundance.  God created the world and made people stewards of his creation.  “The generosity of our God demands a response, a response that we reflect his compassion and mercy in this world.”

It was sinful, immoral and unacceptable that, in a world in surplus, 800 million people went hungry every day, he said.  It was also unacceptable that in the information age, some 116 million children were not able to go to school.  Those issues must be addressed in a world in which trillions of dollars were spent on armaments when four and a half days of that spending could guarantee universal education.  Politicians were good at making decisions, but it was the household of faith that had both the moral responsibility and authority to ensure that the Millennium Goals were realized.

The Micah Challenge was a global campaign of the World Evangelical Alliance and the Micah Network, said Steve Bradbury, Co-Chair of the Micah Challenge and Director of TEAR Australia.  The campaign found its inspiration in the person of Jesus Christ, who clearly had such a heart for the poor.  Jesus was inextricably drawn to the neglected and the marginalized, just as they were drawn to him.  The Micah Challenge was about being a voice for and with the poor around the globe.

Comprising some 267 organizations, the Micah Network was a comparatively new alliance of those groups, he said.  The World Evangelical Alliance represented a large number of Christians, with some 3 million member churches around the world through 123 national alliances.  One of the aims of the Micah Challenge was to galvanize Christians around the world -- through a massive grass-roots campaign -- to pressure and encourage governments to deliver on the promises they had made by signing the Millennium Declaration.  Another goal was to encourage Christians, both rich and poor, to demonstrate, through their own priorities and programmes, something of God’s heart for the poor.  In Australia, a broad coalition of churches had endorsed the Micah call across the theological spectrum.

Salil Shetty, Director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Millennium Development Goals Campaign, said it was appropriate that the press conference was being held in the building where 189 heads of State and government had signed the Millennium Declaration some four years ago.  Citizens had the responsibility of keeping their governments accountable.  The moral pressure that organizations like the Micah Challenge brought to the process was irreplaceable.

Progress had been achieved since the signing of the Millennium Declaration in 2000, with many of the poorest countries starting to show that the Goals could be achieved even in the most adverse circumstances, he said.  Significant achievements had been made in the areas of primary education, health care and reversing the HIV/AIDS epidemic.  Achieving the Goals did not require more than $100 billion a year, which, in global terms, was small change.  The real issue was a set of political constraints.  The Millennium Declaration was, after all, a compact.  Poor countries had promised to get their own houses in order, while rich nations had promised to do their share by ensuring there was more aid and debt relief.  Africa paid out more each year in debt servicing than it received in aid.  As for trade, there had been a breakthrough in July at the Doha negotiations, with the recognition that agricultural subsidies would have to end.  That had been unthinkable just six months ago.

Gary Edmonds, Co-Chair of the Micah Challenge and General Secretary of the World Evangelical Alliance, said he was often asked why the Alliance had engaged in the Micah Challenge.   The word “evangelical” meant “good news” and in addressing the Millennium Development Goals, the people of Jesus Christ must be committed to creating communities of life.  Jesus came to bring life and to deliver people from a culture of death.  Poverty would not be addressed by passing declarations; action was needed at the local level to keep governments accountable.  It was a question of obedience to Jesus, his model and his actions.  Poverty could only be addressed if all people acted together.

Asked if the group was advocating a multilateral framework within the United Nations to end poverty and if the United States was living up to its commitments, Mr. Edmonds replied that the World Evangelical Alliance advocated that each nation respond in a manner appropriate to that nation.  It did not recommend employing uniform strategies or tactics.  It also believed that governments were given by God and had a moral responsibility to create an environment of peace and justice.  Churches ought to hold their governments to moral responsibility in a way that honoured both the political process and the truth of God.

Mr. Shetty added that the Millennium Declaration had laid out the principles by which the Goals were to be achieved.  The United States was not in any way different from any of the other signatories.  There had been agreement not to prescribe how each country should play its role in meeting the Goals.

The campaign would take a different shape in each country, Mr. Bradbury noted.  Democratically elected governments were employees and needed to be reminded that they had signed the Millennium Declaration on behalf of their people.

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