The future German government must take an ambitious approach to international cooperation and bring other countries on board. This is what the church development organisations Bread for the World and Misereor are calling for in a position paper sent to members of the Bundestag and the parliamentary groups with a view to the coalition negotiations. The fight against hunger and poverty, in favour of human rights and the protection of the climate must be an essential part of German policy. A strong development policy that strengthens civil society structures worldwide can curb increasingly autocratic tendencies.
"Germany must take on more responsibility internationally - especially now, when the USA is no longer the most important donor of development funding and humanitarian aid," says Dagmar Pruin, President of Bread for the World. "The next German government should send a clear signal to the countries of the Global South: We will not leave you alone to deal with the consequences of the climate crisis, hunger and poverty." Strong development policy is also an important building block for the protection of democracy. It serves the interests of us all, as stable conditions in partner countries are a basic prerequisite for peace, prosperity and the expansion of our economic relations. The protection of civil society worldwide must be a priority in the German government's international policy. "No democracy can survive without a vibrant civil society," said Pruin.
Bread for the World and Misereor expect the future coalition partners to continue to prioritise an independent development ministry. "International cooperation must not be subordinated to foreign policy interests, but must independently highlight the global dimension of social justice and poverty reduction. We need more international cooperation, more assumption of responsibility for common problems, also in order to achieve security through cooperation, through a strong focus on civil conflict prevention and by combating climate change," said Andreas Frick, Chief Executive of Misereor.
The German government should also commit to the internationally agreed target of providing 0.7 per cent of gross national income for development cooperation. "Development cooperation costs money, but doing nothing will cost many times more in the future," says Andreas Frick. With regard to the growing funding gap for the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Dagmar Pruin adds: "The global financial system must become fairer overall. We need taxation of excess profits, especially from the fossil fuel economy, and wealth-based taxation." Bread for the World and Misereor have repeatedly called for climate-damaging subsidies to be abolished to create more room for manoeuvre in the federal budget. The funds freed up will help poorer countries to adapt to climate change and deal with climate-related damage and losses.
