The African Catholic Bishops have called for initiatives that would support governments across the World to work for all and avoid implementing measures that further isolate the poor and the vulnerable in the society.
This call was contained in a Press Release at the end of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM).
Delegates at the ongoing 2022 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund, IMF and the World Bank Group, the regional body of Catholic bishops in Africa were urged not merely discuss the global economy in terms of what it produces, but how it touches and promotes life, protects human dignity and safeguards the integrity of creation.
According to the press statement, The Bishops said , “We wish to amplify the voice of Pope Francis in defending human dignity and we reiterate his words for an economy that gives life rather than one that kills.
“As we work for recovery, we are not doing so in order to return to an unequal and unsustainable model of economic and social life, where a tiny minority of the world’s population owns half of the wealth as millions wallow in poverty. We must develop just social and economic systems that support distribution of wealth and guide humanity to be inclusive of all people and eliminate economic inequality from society.”
While acknowledging that COVID-19 has affected everyone and shown how interconnected humanity is, the African Catholic bishops also observed that the pandemic has exposed a deeply divided and glaringly unequal world.
“In a region that is home to two-thirds of the world’s extreme poor, on account of the harsh economic impacts of COVID-19, 40 million more Africans fell into extreme poverty, lacking access to basic goods and services like health, education, food, water and so on,” the statement revealed.
SECAM lamented that Africa remains the least vaccinated region worldwide exposing Africans to new corona virus surges and economic disruptions, and prolonging the crisis.
“Progress towards the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and achieving the African Union’s Agenda 2063 are under threat.”
Vulnerable to Climate Change
Africa is also the continent most vulnerable to climate change, with effects visible in loss of arable land and water, higher incidence of natural disasters and forced displacement.
“These are effects of an unsustainable economy that despoils creation, the document stated . Quoting the Catholic Pontif, Pope Francis “We are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental”.
The statement noted that in the face of COVID-19, debt as a proportion of the size of Africa’s economy has risen from 60% to 70% in the inverse scenario where spending demands have surged while revenues have conversely plummeted.
The bishops reiterated the call of the SECAM President, His Eminence Phillippe Cardinal Ouédraogo, who in his 2022 New Year message aspired “for our continent good economic recovery, free of debts that have been strangling it”.
The bishops called on G20 Finance Ministers and other world leaders gathering at the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings to put in place viable plans for Africa to emerge from the crisis with resilience and resume progress towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the Paris Agreement.
Confidence Okwuchi and Qasim Akinreti
