” “Towards a “humanitarian democracy”” “” “

Giving priority to the “social dimension of human development, through the campaign against poverty and the creation of new jobs”; combating “public and private corruption”, including the freezing of the profits deriving from drug trafficking; implementing “effective political and legal measures for the protection of the environment”; enabling the institutions to tackle the challenges of globalization, through “the modernization of States, and increased structures of regional integration and global cooperation”; and reinforcing democratic stability through a more effective participation of civil society: these are the main recommendations made to the heads of State and of government of the European Union and Latin America who will participate in the summit in Madrid on 17 and 18 May, and contained in the final message of the social congress that ended in recent days at El Escorial (Madrid) on the theme “Latin America and the European Union: together for the universal common good. The contribution of the Church”, organized by the Spanish Episcopal Conference, COMECE (Commission of the Episcopates of the European Union) and CELAM (Episcopal Council of Latin America). Over 170 delegates, including bishops, politicians and experts from 38 countries of Europe and Latin America, met together for the first time to make specific proposals and recommendations to the heads of government. This is what emerged. The final message. In the message – signed by Msgr. Jorge Enrique Jiménez Carvajal, president of CELAM, and by Msgr. Joseph Homeyer, president of COMECE – some declarations of principle are reaffirmed: among others, the urgent need for a concerted campaign against the frequent violations of human rights in Latin America: “The constructive pressure of the European Union is an indispensable condition for achieving the objective of a humanitarian democracy”. The hope is also expressed that the heads of State and of government may work “to reform the current international architecture and obtain a better system of world government, a system in which justice is exercised with an even hand, in which there is no place for war and a preferential option is shown for the poor”. “Combating poverty – says the message – is the best way of preventing social insecurity and violence”. It is also “indispensable”, according to the congress delegates, “to create a formula that permits the flight of capital from Latin America to Europe to be curbed and investments in the opposite direction increased”. Among the economic measures, the message stresses the importance of debt remission, so long as the countries of Latin America invest the funds thus released in the more urgently needed social expenditures. With regard to immigration, just as in the past Latin America welcomed masses of European immigrants, so today Latin America is asked “to open its frontiers, legalize the status of migrants and make suitable provision to ensure that irregular immigrants be not exploited due to their precarious situation”. The other recommendations include the request that medicines be made available to the poor populations of Latin America, that the pledge made by the European governments to allocate 0.7% of their GDP to aid to development be honoured, and that the technological and information gap between North and South be reduced. “Just as in the recent past Truth Commissions were established – concludes the message – to help people to overcome the traumas and injuries of wars and authoritarian regimes”, so today “the time has come to create Hope Commissions in which representative institutions and persons of our countries may participate. Such Commissions could be an original and prophetic contribution to the re-establishment of faith in the future of humanity”. The importance of exchanges between the local Churches. “The growing exchanges between the local Churches serve not only to grasp the universal dimension of the Church but also to gain an awareness of the interdependence between peoples and continents”. So says John Paul II in a message signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano, and sent to the participants in the congress. The Pope emphasizes, in particular, the importance “of regional integration through treaties and common institutions”, and the need to construct “impregnable fortresses” against forms of nationalism “at times glorified to an excessive degree”. “Relations between Europe and Latin America have already had a long history”, recalled Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, archbishop of Madrid and president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference. “This is a very delicate moment, which could give rise to a good aid programme and a future fruitful for both sides”. The Church, he said, has the task of “refreshing and updating awareness of the problems in the Latin-American continent”, including poverty, criminality and drug-trafficking, “reproposing her view of man and society, and making practical suggestions especially in the field of human rights and social justice”. Between Europe and Latin America there may therefore be a reciprocal exchange in the most varied fields (from trade to science and tourism), as was also pointed out by Bishop Jorge Enrique Jiménez Carvajal of Zipaquirà (Colombia), president of CELAM. Globalization at the political and economic levels. The difficult situation of the Latin-American continent, with glaring social inequalities and growing levels of poverty, was described by Patricio Aylwin Azocar, former president of Chile. Out of a total population of 535 million inhabitants (including the Caribbean), 43.8% of the total, i.e. over 211 million people, are poor. In the last decade alone a further 11.5 million people have become impoverished. Moreover, 77 million inhabitants live in wretched shanty-towns and 165 million have no access to drinking water. The problems of the poor are compounded by the few chances they have of access to education, to the world of work and to healthcare. “If the globalization of markets offers the developing countries opportunities to improve their integration in the world economy – said Aylwin – it’s also true that when genuine equality of opportunities does not exist at the international level, the global rules that regulate world trade generate even greater inequalities”. So the challenge is not “preventing globalization but ensuring that it functions in a fair manner for the good of the whole of humanity and not just for the particular interests of some States and multinational corporations”. Favourable to globalization, on the other hand, is Spanish Prime Minister José Maria Aznar, current president of the European Council, who emphasized the need to “dismantle economic protectionism” and to facilitate trade with Latin America. On the contrary, Antonio Gutierrez, former prime minister of Portugal, expressed his conviction “that globalization is all very well, but must not only be for the few”. “Just as there exists a global coalition against terrorism – he said – so it ought to be possible to create one against poverty”. According to José Tomas Raga Gil, professor of applied economics at the University of San Pablo Ceu (Madrid), “differences such as diversity of opportunities, of essential conditions of life, of access to the world of culture, technology, and the market economy, give rise to concerns within the phenomenon of globalization, which ought on the contrary to give rise to the principle of the equality and symmetry between its protagonists”. “The usual hype about freedom in the development of relations of all types, commercial and financial – in his view – is beginning to prove an illusion, because that freedom will be curbed to suit the convenience of those who establish the rules of the global game”. That’s why it’s more than ever necessary today to “eliminate the barriers of protectionism” and recall “solidarity as a commitment to solve the problems that afflict a large part of mankind”. The urgency of the task was also stressed by Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodriguez Maradiaga, archbishop of Tegugicalpa (Honduras): “Globalization will either be an expression of solidarity or nothing. If it fails to express solidarity it will degenerate into a totalitarian empire that will prevent our participation and reduce us to subservience”.