Holy See calls for short, long-term measures to help poor in economic crisis
(June 27, 2009) The Holy See has called for support for short as well as long-term
measures to help the poor of the world defend themselves against the impact of the
world financial and economic crisis. The call was made on Friday by Archbishop Celestino
Migliore, the Holy See’s permanent Observer to the United Nations in New York. He
was addressing a 3-day UN summit of world leaders to identify emergency and long-term
responses to mitigate the impact of the world’s worst global economic downturn. Archbishop
Migliore noted that “it is poor people both in developed and in developing countries
who suffer most and who are least able to defend themselves against the impact of
this crisis.” While the poor in rich nations lose their jobs, those in poor nations
lack access to employment, food, basic healthcare and education facilities. The
World Bank estimates that an additional 55-90 million people will now be trapped in
extreme poverty in 2009….while the number of chronically hungry people is expected
to climb to over 1 billion individuals this year. In the face of this, Archbishop
Migliore endorsed the proposed approach to protect the poor with short-term stabilization
measures while using longer term measures to help ensure sustainable financial flows
and reduce the likelihood of this crisis reoccurring. Short-term actions, he said,
must focus on means that are capable of bringing tangible relief within a reasonable
time period to individuals most in need. Longer term measures -which often may require
developing a stronger political consensus to realize them- should focus on actions
that support sustainability. The Holy See urged that adequate financial assistance
be directed to poor countries with minimal conditionality. Specifically, he said,
the elimination of agricultural export subsidies is one measure that can provide significant
benefits to very poor developing countries.