World Social Forum participants pledge to strengthen global campaigns

Published: 2007-01-29

NAIROBI, Kenya (CNS) -- World Social Forum participants passed resolutions pledging to strengthen the campaign against poverty, the global trade imbalance and gender inequality. Nearly 50,000 representatives from social movements, faith-based and Catholic organizations, trade unions and nongovernmental organizations passed the more than 100 resolutions at the end of the Jan. 20-25 forum in Nairobi. The forum provided a global platform of meetings, debates and marches to address international policies that exploit the poor, women and children, and the environment. The forum's theme was "Another World Is Possible." Participants denounced the amount of money nations spend on military buildup. They said those funds should be used to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, which call on richer countries to commit resources in order to halve global poverty by 2015. They also pledged to vigorously campaign against foreign military bases and nuclear weapons.

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