In his March 24 opinion piece, “A Time for Global Action,” President Obama rightly acknowledged that the most vulnerable people in the world stand to suffer most from the current global economic crisis. I couldn’t agree more. During difficult economic times it is relatively easy to write about the world’s responsibility to people living in poverty. It is more difficult to produce results. That’s why a critically important test of the President’s leadership for people living in poverty will be determined by his ability to lead the group of 20 leaders from the world’s wealthiest nations, the G-20, to an effective, practical and immediate response to help people weather this financial storm.
People of faith throughout the world are vitally interested in this topic. For us, the scriptures communicate God’s concern for people living in poverty, and call us to act with care and compassion for people in poverty and on the margins of society. Christians are sent into the world to bear witness in Word and deed, serving our neighbors, seeking the common good, and striving for justice and peace in all the earth.
The global economic crisis has affected us all. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs and have been forced out of their homes. The church body I lead, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has been forced to absorb painful budget cuts and layoffs. Still, being part of a global church, I have learned from brothers and sisters living in developing economies just how much higher the stakes are for them. For those who survive on $1 or $2 a day, the economic recession presents unthinkable choices, often between life and death.
In Nepal, some parents are so desperate for income they have resorted to selling teenage daughters to traffickers so that their younger children can survive. In parts of Asia and Africa, mothers are forced to choose which of their children they will feed and which will go hungry. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization recently reported that the economic crisis will increase the number of children who die before their first birthday by 200,000–400,000 annually.
People of faith and conscience must call on the most powerful governments in the world to help shape a global economy that provides sufficient and sustainable livelihoods for all. A few months ago economists thought the poorest developing nations might be shielded from the harsh consequences of the current crisis because they are still not fully integrated into the global economy. Today, it is clear that this is not the case: the World Bank’s projects that an additional 53 million people in low-income countries will be pushed into poverty this year.
Communities of faith will continue working to provide for those most in need. But the needs are too great for faith-based and other non-governmental organizations to meet alone. The world’s wealthiest nations must also fulfill their responsibility by increasing life-saving aid, expanding debt relief for poor nations and reforming the international-financial institutions.
The world’s rich countries have made numerous commitments to increase aid to developing nations, but translating those commitments into real money has proven more elusive. President Obama should urge other G-20 leaders to fulfill their previous commitments. It would be tragic if the world fails to meet such commitments, thereby damaging the progress that has been made toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which aim to halve extreme poverty by 2015.
President Obama’s leadership is needed to secure expanded debt relief for poor nations facing another debt crisis and to ensure that low-income countries are provided with grants, not loans, from international-financial institutions.
Before he became president, Barack Obama promised to double foreign assistance, expand debt relief and grant support for impoverished nations, reform the IMF and World Bank. The upcoming G-20 meeting presents an important opportunity for the President to translate his campaign promises into real action for people living in extreme poverty.
