PRESS RELEASEFor immediate release Call goes out for a billion Catholics to back global poverty campaign Brussels/Rome, 8
February 2007 – Caritas Internationalis and CIDSE want Catholics throughout the world to join forces in putting pressure on the richest countries to live up their promises to end
poverty. The two Catholic aid and development networks are launching the campaign "Make Aid Work. The World CaN't Wait" in Rome today. The mass mobilisation will urge the
world's most powerful leaders to keep promises made at the G8 Summit in Gleneagles in 2005 at this year's summit in Heiligendamm, Germany. Finance Ministers of the world's seven most
industrialised countries (G7) meet this weekend to discuss the global economy. CIDSE and Caritas say poverty in the developing world must be their priority. "Our campaign hopes to engage
Catholics throughout the world in speaking out against the injustice of global poverty" said Duncan MacLaren, Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis. "We want the world's richest countries
to listen to that chorus and live up to their promises to eliminate poverty in the poorest countries. Unless those pledges are backed with concrete action, the Millennium Development Goals aimed at
cutting poverty by 2015 will be missed." Christiane Overkamp, Secretary General of CIDSE, said "It is a scandal that 121 million girls and boys in developing countries do not have the
chance to go to school. We need to see an increase in development aid, but also need to improve how we deliver that aid. Promises of debt relief that can finally allow Africa to invest in its own
future instead of servicing unfair loans also need to be followed through". "We must hold our leaders responsible, in rich and poor countries, for how these funds are being used," said
Paul Samangassou, the incoming Executive Secretary of Caritas Africa. "Are they being used in the best possible way for the people, are the people involved in decisions, and are funds being used in a
transparent way? These are the things we have to hold our governments accountable for, North and South." ENDS Contact: Nancy McNally, Caritas Internationalis
(+39 06 69 87 97 52 / mcnally@caritas.va) or Philipp Rohrer (+32 478 526 578 / rohrer@cidse.org). Notes to the editors: · CIDSE is an alliance of 15 catholic development organizations from Europe and North
America (www.cidse.org). CIDSE is based in Brussels. · Caritas Internationalis is a confederation of 162
Catholic relief, development and social service organisations working to build a better world, especially for the poor and oppressed, in over 200 countries and territories. Learn more about Caritas
Internationalis on www.caritas.org.· The G7 Finance Ministers will meet from 9 to 10 February 2007 in
Essen (Germany) to prepare the G8 summit in June 2007 in Heiligendamm (Germany). · More information on the MAKE AID WORK. THE WORLD CAN'T
WAIT can be found on www.make-aid-work.org.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
