Aid agencies tell G20 to put people first

Tearfund, Christian Aid and World Vision are among the aid agencies telling G20 leaders that only just, fair and sustainable policies will be able to see the world through the recession.

World leaders will meet to discuss the global economic crisis at the G20 summit of the top advanced and emerging economies on April 2. The summit is being hosted by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is due to meet the heads of the IMF and World Bank on Wednesday for preparatory talks.

The wide coalition of aid agencies, which also includes TUC and Oxfam, is organising a major demonstration in central London on 28 March.

The ‘Put People First’ organisers said in a joint statement that the only sustainable way to rebuild the economy was to create a fair distribution of wealth that would provide decent jobs and public services for all, end global inequality and build a low carbon future.

“Recession must not be an excuse for putting off action for global justice or to stop climate chaos,” they said.

Tearfund’s Advocacy Director, Paul Cook, said the church was being mobilised locally and globally to respond to the needs of people losing their livelihoods in the downturn and those living in poor communities where the impact of climate change is already being felt.

“World leaders must now work to ensure that failed systems are re-structured to fairly accommodate the poor in society. In a biting recession developing countries are hit even harder,” he said.

The director of the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, Ashok Sinha, said governments needed to invest in green jobs and low carbon economies.

“The lives and livelihoods of millions of poor and vulnerable people across all countries are at stake. The leaders of the G20 owe it to those most at risk yet least responsible for both the economic crisis and the threat of climate chaos to help create a global Green New Deal to tackle both.”

Brown is expected to discuss development issues in an audience with Pope Benedict at the Vatican on Thursday.

Tearfund and other church groups will hold an ecumenical church service at Central Hall, Westminster, at 11am on 28 March. The congregation will then join the main march as it moves through Westminster at around 1215 GMT and heads to Hyde Park.



On the web: www.tearfund.org/g20 or www.putpeoplefirst.org.uk