Internationale Religionsführerkonferenz anlässlich des G8-Gipfels in Japan beendet./. Geistliche aus aller Welt fordern Umweltschutz statt Militärausgaben

Hannover (ots) - Mit einem "Ruf aus Sapporo" ist am Donnerstag,
dem 3. Juli, das internationale Religionsführertreffen anlässlich des
G8-Gipfels in Japan zu Ende gegangen. Hochrangige Vertreter der
Weltreligionen fordern darin die Staats- und Regierungschefs der
G8-Staaten auf, ihre Militärausgaben zu reduzieren und mit dem
eingesparten Geld einen "Earth-Fonds" zum Schutz der Umwelt und zur
Bekämpfung der Armut einzurichten. In Fortsetzung der
Religionsführerkonferenz, die auf Einladung der Evangelischen Kirche
in Deutschland (EKD) 2007 in Köln stattfand, fordern die Vertreter
von Christentum, Judentum, Islam, Shintoismus und Buddhismus die
Umsetzung der UN-Millenniumsentwicklungsziele, die unter anderem die
Halbierung globaler Armut bis zum Jahr 2015 anstreben. Die knapp 100
Delegierten aus mehr als 20 Ländern waren sich einig, dass die
Umsetzung der Millenniumsentwicklungsziele wie auch die Maßnahmen zum
Schutz des Klimas in den kommenden Jahren aufmerksam begleitet und
beharrlich eingefordert werden sollten.

Der Vorsitzende des Rates der EKD, Bischof Wolfgang Huber, zeigte
sich am Ende der zweitägigen Konferenz zufrieden mit dem Ergebnis.
"Die Vertreter der verschiedenen Religionen übernehmen gemeinsam
Verantwortung für die Gestaltung einer gerechten und solidarischen
Zukunft. Ich hoffe, dass sich dieser Einsatz für die Überwindung der
Armut und die Bewahrung der Schöpfung auch im Blick auf die kommenden
G8-Gipfel in Italien und Kanada fortsetzen wird."

Das Abschlussdokument wurde in Anwesenheit der rund 300
Teilnehmenden im Sapporo Convention Center an einen Vertreter der
japanischen Regierung übergeben.

Sapporo/Hannover, 03. Juli 2008
Pressestelle der EKD
Silke Römhild

Im Folgenden finden Sie den "Ruf aus Sapporo" im englischen
Wortlaut.

Call from Sapporo - World Religious Leaders Summit for Peace
On the occasion of the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit
July 3, 2008
Sapporo, Japan

INTRODUCTION

We, senior leaders of the world's religions, have convened in a
World Religious Leaders Summit for Peace in Sapporo, Japan, just
prior to the Group of Eight (G8) Hokkaido Toyako Summit. We are
united in our commitment to peace, which includes our concern for the
inviolable dignity of all people, the dire suffering of so many and
the well-being of our shared Earth.

We carry forward important work begun in multi-religious meetings
held just prior to the G8 summits in Moscow (2006) and Cologne
(2007). We have been convened by Religions for Peace-Japan in
partnership with the World Conference of Religions for Peace.

We are united in our call to the G8 to take bold action to address
the threats that confront humanity, including the destruction of the
environment and climate change, extreme global poverty and
deteriorating food security, nuclear arms, terrorism and violent
conflict. Addressing these threats requires urgent action by the G8.

Action by all governments, civil society, private sector,
religious communities and-in the final analysis-every member of the
human family is required to advance the common good. We urge the G8
to respond in ways designed to engage these stakeholders in building
our common future.

Religious communities have roles in building peace. Before
outlining these roles, we acknowledge with genuine sorrow that all
religions have at times been misused in fomenting violence.*

We reject this misuse of religions and commit ourselves to
engaging our communities for the common good. Collectively, our
religious communities are the world's largest social networks which
reach into the furthest corners of the earth and include countless
institutions dedicated to caring for people. Religions share many
moral traditions that can provide basic principles essential for just
and harmonious relations among persons and communities. Moreover,
religious traditions-each in its own way-cultivate spiritualities of
compassion and love essential for genuine reconciliation and peace.
Mobilizing these great social, moral and spiritual dimensions of the
world's religions in service of the common good is essential for the
well-being of the human family. We are united in the conviction that
all religions obligate their followers to work for justice among all
peoples, and to care for one another and our common home, the earth.
We commit to doing so.

OUR COMMITMENT

As religious leaders, we are committed to the path of
multi-religious cooperation for peace. Religious traditions-each in
its own way-summons their followers to the path of multi-religious
cooperation for the common good. This path:

- Leads to senior religious leaders from all faith traditions and
billions of believers working together for a positive and holistic
state of peace;
- Enjoins the world's believers to engage their moral heritages and
spiritual traditions in taking individual responsibility for
protecting our earth;
- Brings politicians, civil society and religious communities
together to forge needed consensus on values that can serve as the
basis of just and creative policies.

SHARED SECURITY

An overarching notion that we believe can help express the
comprehensive character of our moral and religious concerns is
"Shared Security." Shared Security builds on the concept of Human
Security by focusing on the fundamental inter-relatedness of all
persons and the environment.

Shared Security includes a comprehensive respect for the
interconnectedness and dignity of all life. It is based upon our
mutual interdependence and the most universal and fundamental fact
that all humans live in one world. It recognizes that the well-being
of one is related to the well-being of others and ultimately to the
earth that we all share. It calls us to recognize that past, present
and future are linked. Together, we must acknowledge past failings,
face present challenges and accept our responsibilities to future
generations.

Shared Security is concerned with the full continuum of human
relations-from relationships among individuals to the ways that
peoples are organized in nations or international organizations. It
respects state sovereignty, but also supports democratic and
transparent cooperation among states and peoples.

It follows that the security of one actor of international
relations must not be detrimental to others. International actors
who are responsible for global decision-making must act transparently
and be open to the contributions of all stakeholders, including
religious communities which represent a major part of civil society.
A similar concern for a just world order, respecting different
national and religious traditions, was made at the Moscow World
Summit of Religious Leaders (2006).

As religious leaders, we recognize that there is a foundational
moral imperative for advancing Shared Security: We are all
responsible for one another's well-being.

CALLS TO ACTION

We call upon the G8 to include in their discussions and plans of
action the following areas of concern:

1. The Destruction of the Environment and Climate Change

Japan, the host of this year's G8 Summit, possesses a spiritual
term, mottainai, meaning "do not waste, use everything in a fashion
commensurate with its true value." This concept recognizes the
mysterious "giftedness" of all existence, and urges that natural
resources must be used appropriately, while simultaneously
encouraging responsible and sustainable consumption. The concept also
provides a base for recognizing that it is unethical to burden future
generations with excessive pollution or other gross environmental
imbalances. Development must be environmentally sustainable.

We must also draw attention to the link between the health of the
environment and war. In addition to killing people, disrupting the
lives of entire societies and thwarting development, war destroys the
ecosystem. Massive defense expenditures, a global total of US$ 1.34
Trillion in 2007 according to the Stockholm International Peace
Research Institute, both directly assaults the ecosystem and
squanders monies that urgently need to be directed to sustainable
development. It is a grave contradiction to advocate for a reduction
of global warming gas emissions while simultaneously maintaining or
even expanding military expenditures.

We urge the G8 Summit to:

- Commit to a reduction of total national defense and military
expenditures and utilize the saved funds to establish an Earth Fund
dedicated to environmental protection.
- Establish a new binding framework to follow up the Kyoto Protocols
that limits global average temperature rise to avert catastrophic
climate change.
- Provide leadership to expand energy efficiency and conservation
efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emission rates.
- Advance policies and practices that increase forestation and other
forms of carbon dioxide sequestration.
- Recognize that trading "global warming gas emission rights" has at
best limited value, and could disproportionately penalize the least
developed.
- Facilitate major investments in the development of new sources of
energy and technology essential to sustainable development,
specifically without jeopardizing food security.
- Implement the recommendations contained in the Kobe 3R Action Plan
(Reduce, Reuse, Recycle).

2. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

The massive scale of extreme poverty at a time of unprecedented
wealth is a moral scandal. Poverty is exacerbated by structural
injustices in the global economy which must be addressed. At the
mid-point of the Millennium Development Campaign, religious leaders
gathered at the Cologne World Summit of Religious Leaders (2007).
They recognized an urgent need to not only fulfill the pledges, but
in some instances, to exceed the commitments made. Meeting these
challenges is even more urgent, not least due to the growing food
crisis. Here again, we call for the funds achieved from the
reduction of defense budgets to be allocated in support of
sustainable development and poverty reduction.

We request the G8 Summit to:

- Take leadership to ensure the achievement of the MDGs, including
delivery on the Gleneagles aid quantity and quality promises,
particularly reaching the goal 0.7% of Gross National Income for
Official Development Assistant.
- Provide urgently needed global leadership to address the growing
crisis of food shortages, including needed emergency responses.
- Meet its pledges of increased resources to scale up the response to
HIV and AIDS, Malaria, and other infectious diseases, and to ensure
universal access to HIV and AIDS prevention, treatment and care
services by 2010.
- Dedicate resources to empower women and girls as key agents in
overcoming poverty.
- Make the legal empowerment of the poor a key objective in its
development assistance strategies.
- Fulfill its commitment to ensuring a development friendly outcome
of the Doha Round of trade negotiations.

3. Nuclear Disarmament

Mindful that the 2008 G8 Summit is taking place in Japan, the only
country that has suffered the horror of a nuclear attack, we
religious leaders stand in solidarity with our Japanese hosts to call
for the elimination of all nuclear weapons. We believe that the
attempt to militarily dominate the sea, space, neutral territories or
states creates obstacles on the way to nuclear and conventional
disarmament. We also believe that conventional disarmament and
efforts to ban military technologies and initiatives that could
provoke a new arms race should go hand in hand with efforts to
advance nuclear disarmament.

We request the G8 Summit to:

- Pursue rigorous implementation of nuclear reduction and
nonproliferation policies leading to the goal of total nuclear
disarmament. As stipulated in article 6 of the Treaty on
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the five acknowledged
nuclear-weapon states must act on their commitments to work toward
eliminating existing nuclear weapons as rapidly as possible. States
with nuclear weapons that have not acknowledged them must acknowledge
their possession, make similar commitments to their elimination and
enter into the NPT.
- Push for prompt ratifications and entry into force of the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and commit to take no action leading
toward the reintroduction of any form of nuclear weapons testing.
- Continue to demonstrate positive leadership for the implementation
of UN Security Council Resolution 1540 and other global initiatives
to control the transfer of nuclear materials and stop further
proliferation.

4. Terrorism and Violent Conflict

Terrorism-the intentional killing of innocent people as a way of
achieving a political objective-is never morally justified whether it
is perpetrated by individuals, groups or states. Moreover, military
responses to terrorism injure innocent persons, provide additional
motivation for terrorist groups and endanger basic freedoms in the
societies attempting to protect themselves from terrorism.

Violent military conflict-the attempt to settle serious disputes
by military force-typically results in the loss of innocent lives,
disruption of society, thwarting of development and destruction of
the environment.

Every effort must be made to utilize non-violent means to thwart
terrorism and resolve disputes to advance peace.

We call upon the G8 to:

- Provide global leadership designed to combat the victimization
of groups based on culture or creed.
- Work to end occupation and establish just, honorable and
comprehensive peace in all countries or territories which are
occupied.
- Re-affirm and strengthen its commitment to standards of
international law in its efforts to counteract terrorism and promote
international security.
- Acknowledge and support the importance of multi-religious
partnerships to help address the problems of terrorism and violent
conflict.
- Work to limit the production and export of arms into areas of
violent conflict.
- Promote a culture of peace by advancing non-violent conflict
resolution and peace education.

CONCLUSION

The G8 has the responsibility to use boldness and wisdom to
advance the common good in partnership with the religious communities
and all other stakeholders.

We - leaders of diverse religious communities - re-commit
ourselves to working together and with other partners of good will to
address the threats that confront us all. While we labor to meet the
challenges of our day, we are deeply mindful of religious traditions
which have taught-each in its own way-compassion, forgiveness and
reconciliation, and that these are essential for genuine peace.

We respectfully urge the G8 to recognize, facilitate and
effectively support the importance of multi-religious cooperation, as
it takes needed steps to advance the common good.

*We recall and embrace as our own an historic multi-religious
acknowledgement on the misuse of religion:
"As men and women of religions, we confess in humility and penitence
that we have very often betrayed our religious ideals and our
commitment to peace. It is not religion that has failed the cause of
peace, but religious people. This betrayal of religion can and must
be corrected." (From the global multi-religious Declaration adopted
at the Religions for Peace First World Assembly in Kyoto, Japan,
1970.)

Originaltext: EKD Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland
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Pressekontakt:
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