Anglican Observer at the UN - Millennium Development Goals

On the eve of the United Nations Conference on the World Economic and Financial Crisis and its Impact on Development,  Tuesday, June 23,  2009 in the Tillman Chapel at the Church Center for the United Nations, General Assembly President H.E. Fr. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann implored the religious community:   “All the current crises we face, environmental, financial, economic and the wars across the globe have happened because fundamentally, we’ve not followed the dictates of our religions.”   He went onto say, “Please pray  that this Conference succeeds and that we have the dialogue we need to have.  And that we move forward to a more just sharing of our world and its resources.”

Despite current resistance from some within Europe to meet for such a dialogue, H.E. d’Escoto stated that the United Nations first meeting was at Bretton Woods, where heads of 44 countries met to dialogue about moving forward economically and financially cooperatively from both the Great Depression and a World War.   It was at that conference that the International Financial Architecture.   This was radical.   It was a way for all the nations of the world to join their resources to build a world where that kind of Great Depression which sparked World War II would never happen again.   Meanwhile, it is those most affected by the current failure in what has become our financial architecture, the developing countries,  who are not at the table of those who make these decisions:  the G-8 or the G-20.

For the first time in many years, the U.S. has indicated its desire that this Conference at the United Nations succeed.  

The event, hosted by over 25 largely faith-based, but not exclusively faith-based organizations,  began with a welcome by Harriett Jane Olson, Deputy General Secretary of the Women’s Division of the United Methodist Church (the Women’s Division owns the Church Center for the United Nations) who stated.  “The Chapel is offered as a space where we can reintegrate our minds, hearts and souls for the decisions we need to make”.   Her introduction was followed by an original performance piece by the newly formed “Artists for the 23rd Century” entitled “The Great Turning”.   The creators of that piece hoped that is would move the gathered to a passionate voice for those not normally at the table.    It was followed by the voices of some delegates to the Conference from the World Council of Churches, the Feminist Task force of the Global Action Against Poverty, the Anglican Communion and the Muslim Women’s Institute for Research and Development.   The delegates who spoke had come to the conference from as near as New York City, and as far away as the Philippines,  Mali, Chile and Mexico. 

 

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The United Nations is convening a three-day summit of world leaders from 24 to 26 June 2009 at its New York Headquarters to assess the worst global economic downturn since the Great Depression. The aim is to identify emergency and long-term responses to mitigate the impact of the crisis, especially on vulnerable populations, and initiate a needed dialogue on the transformation of the international financial architecture, taking into account the needs and concerns of all Member States.

The United Nations summit of world leaders in June was mandated at the Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development, held in December 2008 in Doha, Qatar. Member States requested the General Assembly President Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann to organize the meeting “at the highest level”.

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