G20 must seize chance to put people first, says coalition

|PIC2|An unprecedented coalition of more than 160 organisations is calling on Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other G20 leaders to put jobs, justice and the climate at the top of their agenda as they meet in London today for talks on the global economic crisis.

The Put People First coalition said world leaders needed to replace blind faith in markets with an economic system that works in the interests of people and planet and provides sturdy foundations for future prosperity.

They are calling for a number of reforms, including greater transparency and accountability among financial institutions and multinationals and measures to stop businesses and wealthy people "avoiding their responsibilities" to the poor through tax havens.

The coalition wants to see G20 leaders to stop putting pressure on developing countries to liberalise their economies and significantly increase the level of investment in a ‘green new deal’ based on decent work and fair pay.

Other demands include more overseas aid, progress towards a climate deal that will stop temperature increases of more than 2oC and a place for poor countries in global institutions like the World Bank and IMF.

More than 35,000 people marched through central London last Saturday to put pressure on G20 leaders to keep jobs, justice and the climate central to their discussions.

In an ecumenical service prior to the march, the Bishop of London, Dr Richard Chartres described the world as interconnected and said those in the developed world must not forget those in the poorest parts.

“It is imperative we stand with people in this global emergency,” he said.

Christians have been praying daily in the run-up to the G20 meeting as part of Micah Challenge's Rise Up campaign.

Micah Challenge International Director, the Rev Joel Edwards, said Christians needed to be persistent in their calls for justice.

“For the first time in human history we have reached the place where we are potentially irreversibly damaging our environment,” he said.

“What we are calling upon you to do is simply to remind our world of an agreement we made to be hospitable and just to everybody on our planet – God expects no less,” he said.

Earlier in the week, representatives of churches across the denominations sent a joint letter to G20 leaders in which they urged them not to return to business as usual.

Instead, they called for a moral response to the current crisis based on the principles of sustainability, solidarity, subsidiarity, social justice, equity and accountability in the use of public resources and those in roles of public trust.

“The fundamental failure of the market system exposed by the financial crisis is a moral failure; as such it requires a moral response,” they wrote.

“We therefore reject any proposals for the recovery or regulation of the financial markets predicated on the principle of a return to business as usual, as this implies a return to unethical business and economic relationships.”