Caritas Internationalis

General Assembly June 2007

Farewell address of the outgoing President, Denis Viénot

Vulnerability and sharing

On the day that my duties as President come to an end, I would like to offer you two reflections.

The vulnerability of peoples is one of the causes of their weakness in emergency situations or in everyday life. Leaders of humanitarian action are well aware of this, as are the Caritas network’s pastoral workers, staff and volunteers.

They also know that vulnerable people often suffer from the lack of a spirit of sharing, like poor Lazarus in the Gospel of Saint Luke. They know that the poor are victims of the lack of a spirit of effective responsibility towards their brothers and sisters, as much in terms of personal behaviour as in terms of solidarity with the human family.

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Individuals or peoples affected by misfortune are vulnerable.

I could take many examples, but I will cite just one: the screams of Karima, a young Pakistani girl, which didn’t move the Jirga, a traditional court made up of elders. During a brawl connected with a conflict over the irrigation of a sugar cane field, her brother killed a member of another family. To redress the injury, the Jirga decided to surrender her as swarma, or blood money. As she was too young to be given to the opposing family, she was entrusted to a village elder until she reached puberty. At the age of 15 she was handed to over to the murdered man’s sixty-year-old father, and became his third wife. Karima is now undergoing psychiatric treatment for schizophrenia.

The lives of so many women in traditional regions of Pakistan are threatened by traditional customs! The men own the women and punish them. Many Pakistani women are afraid of being killed, burnt with kerosene or cooking oil, or being disfigured by having acid thrown at them, if there is the slightest suspicion that they might have conspired against the family honour.

Many position papers and publications have lobbied for women’s rights in Pakistan. The national Justice and Peace Commission publishes endless lists of these tragic cases. Islam and the law are unable to obstruct these traditions. The law grants women rights whilst customs debase them; and Islam is powerless as increasingly hard-line fundamentalism hampers progress. But Islam also enables women to access certain rights, in opposition to tradition.

Caritas Pakistan is a leader in Asia regarding research into the trafficking of women and children. According to the organisation, a policy to fight these practices is lacking. Legislation needs to be established in the areas of seeking out victims and providing them with assistance, as well as regarding corruption.

UN statistics indicate that corruption in the public sphere primarily regards the police and customs officers in Latin America, Africa, the United States, Australia and eastern Europe, whilst in Asia and western Europe it mainly concerns political leaders and other kinds of public servants.

Corruption hinders economic and social development in rich and poor countries alike. Misappropriation of public funds reduces means of action and in poor countries it contributes to the often lamentable state of public infrastructure, roads, schools and health services.

In addition to the reprehensible aspects regarding personal ethics, in terms of social ethics it is abnormal and unfair that the poor should have no access to their rights without paying in an extra-legal way. They dearly need public services that the state is unable to fund. Corruption is a kind of pollution, and some people have no hesitation in calling it a crime against humanity due to its repercussions on the poorest.

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In the Gospel Lazarus also suffers from unsatisfactory sharing. Sharing is necessary to impede unfair distribution of wealth which often generates poverty.

At the international level we are aware of the extent to which rich states – meaning societies and therefore citizens – are overcautious. For example, by being so reticent with regard to the 0.7% that should be devoted to public development aid – a paltry percentage, which in many cases is not even reached. In rich and poor societies the disputes over taxation and compulsory deductions are signs of selfishness.

Moreover, the Caritas Internationalis General Assembly is also a society with its own rich and poor. But Caritas Internationalis is the network of the world’s Caritas that advocates sharing as a fundamental value. Sharing amongst Caritas is a sharing that should be promoted in the Confederation’s actions in the field of partnership.

More generally, in all societies, in the face of unfair distribution of income and capital, sharing is one of the key issues for Christians and socio-pastoral workers. “Give us this day our daily bread.” This means our bread, one bread for the multitude. The poverty of the Beatitudes is the virtue of sharing: it calls for communication and sharing of material and spiritual goods, through love not obligation, so that the surplus enjoyed by some may meet the needs of others (cf. 2 Corinthians 8:1-15).

Poverty has internal and external causes, both in terms of the person and society. Like a family, society is responsible for the well-being and development of the individual. The solidarity of the family operates at community level. The solidarity of society covers a wider area. It undoubtedly entails solidarity with its own members, but also with members of other societies out of love for and an interest in achieving a well balanced world.

Society has several solidarity tools – such as fair laws, education, healthcare, care of the destitute and employment – and regarding international trade – donations, international collaboration, treaties and the United Nations.

However, to be effective and fair these tools must be based on concrete sharing. Sharing is a tool and principle of life, as we are seeing outrageous accumulation of wealth by individuals and peoples who are indifferent to any hint of moderation regarding the excesses of consumerism. This explains the growing awareness of environmental issues and ecological justice, whilst large-scale consumers are generating injustice and deadly spirals.

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Vulnerability should be made to disappear.

Sharing should be made to grow.

These are two issues Caritas Internationalis should tackle!