Christian Aid director Dr Daleep Mukarji joined more than 650 Anglican bishops from across the world today in a London Walk of Witness for global poverty, dubbed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown as ‘the greatest public demonstration of faith that this great city has ever seen.’
Led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, the bishops moved slowly from Whitehall, past Downing Street and the Houses of Parliament to Lambeth Palace behind a banner telling global governments: ‘Keep the Promise Halve Poverty by 2015’.
A sea of gowns
Joining the Archbishop were UK faith leaders from the Catholic, Jewish, Sikh and Muslim communities – and then behind this group billowed a sea of purple Anglican gowns.
Bishops marching. Click on image and press play.
The walk was to pressure world leaders to get back on track with the millennium development goals (MDGs) – promises to work towards eradicating extreme poverty made eight years ago – and also to highlight the churches support in delivering development projects through their worldwide global network.
Britain has fallen behind on its aid commitment, but has made a three year plan to restore payments. Other EU and G7 governments have failed to recommit themselves to levels of funding needed to realise the MDGs - which cover issues such as child mortality, the spread of HIV and the provision of education. Action is also required to reform trade structures and resolve the continuing debt crisis.
At Lambeth Palace, the walkers streamed through the gates and into the palace courtyard to hear impassioned addresses from Dr Williams and Mr Brown.
The call to action
Dr Williams presented a letter written on behalf of the Anglican community, stressing the need for urgent action if the MDGs are to be fulfilled by the agreed date of 2015. It also urged action to curb climate change, a core area of campaigning work for Christian Aid.
‘Because our faith challenges us to eradicate poverty, and not merely to reduce it, we should all be more alarmed that with the halfway mark to 2015 passed, it is clear that most of these achievable targets will not be met. The cause is not a lack of resources but a lack of global political will,’ the letter says.
‘Our leaders need to invest in and strengthen their partnership with the Church worldwide so that its extensive delivery network for education and healthcare, alongside our faiths, is fully utilised in the eradication of extreme poverty.’
It said that a timetable for delivering the goals needed to be drawn up by world leaders when they meet at a special UN meeting in New York in September.
‘Even if delivered, the millennium development goals risk being undermined - climate change is already hitting the poorest hardest and so we urge leaders to commit to ambitious cuts in carbon emissions appropriate to the size of their economy and historic responsibility.’
Gordon Brown recalled previous faith-based struggles against slavery and apartheid and urged a similar effort against global poverty. He warned that at current rates of progress, some goals would not be fulfilled for another century.
‘100 years is too long to wait for justice and that is why we must act now,’ he said.
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