DAVID ADAMS reports on calls for the APEC leaders to remember the least fortunate…
Amid all the hoopla in Sydney surrounding this weekend’s APEC meeting, some 50 Christian leaders have called on Asian Pacific leaders not to forget about “the poorest and most vulnerable” within their region.
CITY LOCKDOWN: Sydney has been locked down as the leaders of the 21 APEC nations gather for a meeting. PICTURE: Mario Gonzaga (www.sxc.hu)
WHO IS APEC?
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum consists of 21 countries within the Asian region. Seven hundred million people in the region live in absolute poverty. Five of the world’s biggest standing armies are located in the region and four of the world’s eight declared nuclear powers.
The 21 nations are:
Australia (21 million): Prime Minister John Howard
Russia (143 million): President Vladimir Putin
China (1.3 billion): President Hu Jintao
Japan (127.4 million): Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
United States: (301.1 million): President George Bush
Brunei (374,500): Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah
Canada (33.3 million): Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Chile (16.2 million): President Michelle Bachelet
Hong Kong (6.9 million): Chief Executive Donald Tsang
Indonesia (234.6 million): President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
Malaysia (24.8 million): Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi
Mexico (108.7 million): President Felipe Calderon
New Zealand (4.1 million): Prime Minister Helen Clark
Papua New Guinea (5.8 million): Prime Minister Michael Somare
Peru (28.6 million): President Alan Garcia
Philippines (91 million): President Gloria Arroyo
Singapore (4.5 million): Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
South Korea (49 million): President Roh Moo-hyun
Taiwan (22.8 million): President Chen Shui-bian
Thailand (65 million): Interim Prime Minister Surayut Chulanon
Vietnam (85.2 million): Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung
Source: Micah Challenge Australia
In a statement to APEC leaders – who include US president George W. Bush, Russian president Vladimir Putin and Chinese president Hu Jintao, the ‘Micah Challenge Australia Panel of Reference’ urged them to “measure the success” of their deliberations and the effectiveness of any policies they adopt “by the benefit they bring to the poorest and most vulnerable within (and without) the borders of the 21 APEC countries”.
“We believe that every APEC initiative should be assessed against this standard,” they write. “Economic growth and free trade are not ends in themselves, but merely servants in the task of reducing poverty and achieving sustainable and equitable human development”.
Noting that Sydney is one of the wealthiest cities in a region where 700 million live in absolute poverty, they ask the leaders to be mindful of the commitments to achieve the benchmarks detailed in the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals by 2016.
“We believe that now is the right time for APEC to advance genuine human security, take stock of progress against these anti-poverty goals and to work to remove the scandal of ‘abject and dehumanising’ poverty.”
The Panel of Reference includes World Vision Australia chief executive Tim Costello, NSW Upper House member Rev Dr Gordon Moyes, Anglican Archbishop Dr Philip Freier, Hillsong pastor Brian Houston and singer Darlene Zschech.
Elsewhere in the letter, the panel addresses the issue of climate change and asks for discussions to be focused on the need to “significantly reduce” greenhouse gas emissions and to enhance international cooperation through the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol.
They call on developed countries to take “swift and significant” action to reduce emissions and to share technology and resources to assist developing countries to pursue clean development and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
They also call for fair multilateral trade rules which allow poor nations to grow their economies and ask for the Doha round of negotiations of the World Trade Organisation to be revived.
The issuing of the statement, which is being sent to the embassies of the nations represented at the APEC meeting and will be read out at churches around the country this Sunday, follows a prayer meeting held in Sydney on Saturday. Around 120 people gathered in the city to pray for the meetings and the leaders involved.
Amanda Jackson, national coordinator of the Micah Challenge, says the panel of reference was created to bring together a group fo Christians leaders drawn from across denominations whom people recognise and admire or respect to “be a voice” on key issues like the APEC meeting.
Ms Jackson says that beyond the APEC meeting, the next focus of Micah Challenge Australia will be on the upcoming election with churches across the nation being encouraged to hold forums and inviting local politicians to attend.
“A number of them are happening in marginal electorates and they’ve been very successful so far,” she says. “Quite a few politicians (have been) more than willing to go along to them. I think that they see that this is an issue that is important to a number of people. OK, it might not get onto the radar of most people and be among their top three election issues – you won’t see big advertisements about it – but it is interesting that both John Howard and Kevin Rudd mentioned poverty when they spoke to the Australian Christian Lobby as an issue that Christians would be concerned about.”
To read the full statement, go to www.micahchallenge.org.au/resource/StatementtoAPECLeaders.pdf.
