The Head of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Finland, Archbishop Jukka Paarma, and Lauri
Ihalainen, the President of SAK, have jointly appealed for increased aid to the developing
countries. This appeal, the nature of which is unique by virtue of these particular
instigators being partners, was recently announced in Tampere at the Solidarity Event
which was organised by SASK, the Solidarity Centre of Finnish Trade Unions.Archbishop Paarma and SAK President Lauri Ihalainen together called
for renewed support by the whole nation for an increase in aid for development
cooperation. "Finland must establish a national commitment, on both moral and
political grounds and across all party political boundaries both in the Government and in
the Opposition, for gradually increasing our aid to the developing countries to the level
which is recommended by the United Nations". So demand the respective Heads of the
Church and the Trade Union Movement.
Archbishop Paarma and Mr Ihalainen drew attention to the
fact that the developed countries have set, as their joint target, a 50% reduction in
world poverty by the year 2015. Some years ago the United Nations approved a
recommendation for the industrial countries to increase their aid for development
cooperation to 0.7% of their gross national product.
Finland has committed itself to these targets. The Finnish
Government announced, in its decision of 1996, that in principle Finland intended to once
again raise its aid to the developing countries to the level of 0.7% over the long term.
Archbishop Paarma and Mr Ihalainen stated that the time has now come when this commitment,
expressed so far only in words, should be transformed into reality.
The trade union movement and the Church intensified their
cooperation during the worst years of the recession in the 1990's. In addition to
consultations between the respective leaders, both organisations were involved in giving
practical assistance, and they are still jointly assisting the unemployed. On the
political level, representatives of both the Church and the trade union movement
participate in the activities of the same action groups. In general, raising development
cooperation aid to a more efficient level has gained support amongst the Finns, for
example many NGOs have actively campaigned to this end. The joint appeal now being made by
Archbishop Paarma and Mr Ihalainen is also significant for the reason that the
Evangelical-Lutheran Church is the main religious entity in Finland, with some 86% of the
population being members of this Church, whilst SAK is the largest central organisation of
trade unions in Finland, with its approximate one million membership. |
