Caritas Social Action Network and CAFOD: “We must not allow a trade off between the needs of the poorest at home and overseas.”
In response to the Chancellor’s Autumn statement, the social action arm and the official development agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales have said a consistent approach is needed to protecting people in poverty both in the UK and overseas from a recession they did not create.
In a joint statement, the Caritas Social Action Network (CSAN) and the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) said:
“We must not allow a trade off to develop between the needs of the poorest communities at home and overseas. They were not the people who created the financial crisis of recent years, and they should not be the ones to pay the biggest price.
“We therefore welcome the continued Government commitment to protect the aid budget and increase it to 0.7% of GNI by 2013, keeping the Government on track to be the first G8 country to meet a promise agreed over 40 years ago. This relatively small amount of money, well spent, will save lives and reduce terrible suffering.
“Some people argue that charity should start at home, and that cutting the aid budget would somehow ease the hardship of poorer families living in Britain, but we reject this false choice, and call on the Government to act on the alleviation of poverty wherever it exists.
“Just last week, Archbishop Vincent Nichols warned that the welfare system should “ensure a safety net is always in place to protect essentials such as food and shelter for those who fall on hard times”, but in communities across England and Wales, we are seeing too many families slipping through that net, jeopardising their health and wellbeing, whilst generating long-term costs that our communities will have to face further down the line.
“We urge the Government to address all these issues as one priority, not as competing priorities, and in particular, we urge them to require those irresponsible businesses and speculators who helped create the financial crisis to pay their fair share in fixing it.”
ENDS
