BRITAIN AND THE WORLD

RESPONSE TO PARTNERSHIP IN POWER SECOND YEAR CONSULTATION:

1. CHRISTIAN SOCIALIST MOVEMENT (CSM)

1.1 CSM is a movement of Christians with a radical commitment to social justice, protecting the environment and fostering peace and reconciliation. CSM believes that ‘loving one’s neighbour’ in the fullest sense involves struggling for a fair and just society, one in which all can enjoy the ‘fullness of life’ Jesus came to announce.

1.2 CSM is proud to be affiliated to the Labour Party and engages fully with the Party at all levels. Members are active locally in their CLPs and CSM sends delegates to Party Conference each year. At the Party’s invitation we organise the official Conference service and we also run a high-profile fringe programme. We currently have some 50 members in the Lords and Commons, including current and former Cabinet members and the Prime Minister. CSM members pledge to work in prayer and political action for the values of Christian Socialism. Our values form the basis of our response to this consultation. The opportunity to help develop Labour’s international development agenda demonstrates the value of our affiliation to the Party.

2. ELIMINATING WORLD POVERTY

2.1 CSM commends Labour’s achievements in promoting international development – particularly the progress made since the Gleneagles G8 Summit in 2005 – and supports Labour’s continued emphasis on eliminating world poverty. Christian Socialists believe in social justice and that Labour Party policy should be explicit in tackling the institutional causes of poverty in, and between, rich and poor countries. We are committed to working through prayer and political action for social justice, equality of opportunity and economic redistribution to close the gap between the rich and the poor, and between rich and poor nations. These are core principles for CSM, and we call for them to be explicitly set out in the Labour Party’s policies.

2.2 CSM is pleased that Labour’s draft agenda for international development recognises the need for environmental sustainability. Indeed, the sustainable use of the Earth’s resources for the benefit of all people, both current and future generations is one of CSM’s core values. We are called to good stewardship of the environment, and recognise that it is often the poorest who suffer most from the effects of climate change. They should not be expected to suffer further as a result of efforts to tackle climate change.

2.3 CSM is a member of the Trade Justice Movement. Together with a range of other organisations, we are campaigning for trade justice rather than unrestricted free trade. The rules of trade should be weighted to benefit poor people and protect the environment. We believe that everyone has the right and the duty to feed their family, make a decent living and protect their environment. But the rich and powerful still are pursuing trade policies that put profits before the needs of people and the planet. To end poverty and protect the environment we need Trade Justice not unrestricted free trade.

2.4 CSM believes that it is important to question the way in which the current global financial system impacts on the poorest in society, both here in the UK and in the developing world. The last twenty years of free-market capitalism have seen the gap between rich and poor increase rather than decrease. Those economies that have succeeded, such as China and India, have often protected their own infant industries in ways that were damaging to even poorer countries. We urge the Labour Party to make a commitment to the reform of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) which could well lead to liberalisation in developing countries, especially in the area of capital liberalisation which is too fast for sustainable economic development.

2.5 CSM is encouraged that Labour is looking at alternative methods of generating development assistance. As a member of the Stamp Out Poverty network (www.stampoutpoverty.org) CSM is committed to the implementation of additional sources of finance, specifically duties or levies, to generate reliable income streams for the provision of long term sustainable development; and to combat, where linked, causes of poverty such as economic and environmental harm to developing countries. CSM is backing the Sterling Stamp Duty proposal which would provide an additional source of revenue to bridge the massive funding gap required to bring the world’s poorest people out of poverty.

We urge the Labour Party to strengthen policy in this area and to make a commitment to take all steps necessary for an early introduction of new and additional financing initiatives, such as a stamp duty on sterling currency transactions, with proceeds ringfenced for sustainable international development objectives.

We also urge the Labour Party to ensure that such proceeds do not replace either existing international aid disbursements, agreed commitments to increase international aid or provision to cancel the debts of developing countries.

3. SECURING PEACE, FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY

3.1 We view the promotion of dialogue and understanding between faiths as essential if we are to secure lasting peace in the world.

3.2 CSM commends the policy document’s focus on a just settlement in the Middle East. While accepting Israel’s right to security, CSM has concerns about some of the methods used by Israel such as restrictions on freedom of movement and freedom to seek employment, education and health. Lasting peace can only come if there is relative economic prosperity for all, and yet it is clear that true development among Israelis and Palestinians is only possible if there is an end to violence and aggression. Two vital steps are the formation of a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel, and mutual recognition. ‘A “win/win” approach that addresses the humanitarian, political, security and justice concerns of both sides… is the only way that will transcend the polarising rhetoric that drives a wedge between two peoples.’ (Barriers to Peace? CSM Pamphlet)

4. ORGANISED CRIME AND THE TRADE IN PEOPLE, DRUGS AND ARMS

4.1 We urge the Labour Party to renew its commitment to campaign vigorously against all forms of oppression, prejudice and abuse of power. As the bicentenary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade passes we remember the leading role played by people of faith in fighting for justice. We also remember the injustices that continue to blight our world. As Christian Socialists we believe that all people are created in the image of God and that all have equal worth and deserve equal opportunities to fulfil their God-given potential whilst exercising personal responsibility. The modern day slavery of people trafficking denies this freedom for the 200,000 women estimated by the UN to be trafficked to the UK and elsewhere in the world for sexual exploitation every year.

4.2 CSM welcomes the UK’s signing of the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking and the United Nations’ Palermo Protocol; however, the freedom of men to acquire women for even half an hour of sexual slavery can no longer be tolerated in a society that proclaims the inviolability of human rights. Labour Party policy should include a commitment to give a lead in working to eradicate sex trafficking to the UK and worldwide.

5. CONFLICT PRESERVATION

5.1 Christian Socialists are pledged to work through prayer and political action for peace and reconciliation between nations and peoples and cultures together, with worldwide nuclear and general disarmament. We urge the Labour Party to make a policy commitment to greater support and development work on non-violent methods of conflict prevention and resolution.

6. MANAGING MIGRATION

6.1 Christian Socialists believe that all people are created in the image of God and are therefore of equal worth regardless of where they come from or what they look like. This means we have a duty to welcome strangers and treat them with dignity and respect.

6.2 Migration needs to be managed, but international efforts to tackle illegal immigration must not prevent those fleeing persecution from reaching the UK. If Labour Party policy is to be for the UK to control the numbers of people reaching the UK and to maximise benefit to the UK from economic migration, our policy must also be to do more to help the poorest people in the world through increased funding for international development and an increase in resettlement of the most vulnerable refugees from UNHCR camps through expansion of the Gateway Protection Programme.

6.3 Immigration brings enormous economic benefits, but economic migrants often undertake low level jobs that the indigenous population is not prepared to do. Many migrants have the higher-level skills and qualifications that could aid the development of the communities they have left. The loss of these skills has a damaging social impact on their home communities, and it follows that we owe a debt which makes it a duty for us to pursue policies which promote development and international trade justice. We urge the Labour Party to acknowledge this explicitly in the policy document.

7. WORKING BEYOND GOVERNMENTS

7.1 Faith communities can play a positive role in the world and we urge the Labour Party to work beyond governments and include faith groups in their efforts to fight for peace and justice internationally. CSM is keen to underline the profound impact that faith-based agencies and churches have in the area of international development, though we believe that a deeper level of understanding is required from Government if this impact is to be maintained and deepened. The Labour Party is seeking to develop its engagement with faith groups within the UK and could make this more concrete by not discriminating against faith-based organisations in the allocation of funding for overseas projects. Some Christian development NGOs are small and unable to compete with larger agencies for Government contracts, yet the work they do on the ground can impact disproportionately on the communities with which they work.

7.2 Faith often provides motivation for ‘good works’ and without these contributions, the societal fabric could well have worn even thinner than it has. For example, the church is the biggest provider of youth work capacity in the UK and the church is often the only organisation with professional workers actually resident in some inner city areas. An understanding of faith and structures of belief is often crucial to cultural understanding. This is well understood in the area of community development in developing world contexts, where it is understood that many people have deeply-held belief systems, but not always handled as well in the domestic context.

7.3 We urge the Labour Party to acknowledge the role of spiritual regeneration in those with whom faith-based agencies work. It is not reasonable to expect people of faith to keep quiet about the faith that motivates them to be involved sacrificially in the lives of others. That is to ignore what most people understand about the way that community change takes place in any context. Sustainable, meaningful change occurs not simply through improving a community’s socio-economic context, but also through internal worldview changes that bring hope and purpose. That is recognised in terms of secular values and faith-based values are equally important.

7.4 To take one example, a young girl on a council estate in East London may have state of the art multi-media facilities at her disposal, but if her chronic problems with self-image and self-worth are not addressed, lasting change in her life and the lives around her will not be achieved. A community in south-east Asia where the land-owners oppress the other members of community needs more than legislation if change is to be achieved. Both owners and workers need to know that they have inherent value as unique human beings. The workers need to know that they should not be owned, that they should not be slaves and that this is not simply their ‘station in life’. The root causes of poverty are tied up in identity issues and relationships going wrong, as oppressor or oppressed. These do not change unless people have a sense of their worth or hope triggered by a change in worldview, which is often caused by faith. We ask for that to be acknowledged in the policy document.

7.5 As well as talking about justice, Labour Party policies need to deal with issues of identity. Sex workers and sweatshop workers will continue to be abused for as long as they are viewed merely as units of labour. Addressing the economics of their situation will merely scratch the surface. Labour Policy should address the way they are seen and how they see themselves though the way our fair trade and international development policies are pursued.

7.6 Many faith-based projects succeed precisely because of the spiritual regeneration occurring in people’s lives. If money is spent mainly on facilitating externally-driven short-term change it will often be wasted. For example, the Christian agency ‘Faithworks’ contributes enormously to helping churches breathe new life into their communities, clearly distinguishing between ‘evangelism’ and ‘service’, and that process of renewal often provokes people to look at what is happening in the wider world as well as becoming engaged in the renewal of their own community. That in turn can strengthen support for UK NGOs and their work in international development. Support for such approaches and for the work of NGOs in this field should be made explicit in the policy document.