Madam, - Every day over 30,000 children die as a result of extreme poverty and injustice. That is one child every three seconds. Most of these deaths are preventable.
We have the resources, knowledge and technology to end this human tragedy - but we need more political will to make it happen. There are encouraging signs that this is happening, but more needs to be done.
Building that political will means each one of us making our voice heard. In Ireland, an unprecedented group of NGOs, trade unions, religious congregations and community groups have joined forces ahead of the G8 in Gleneagles to form a coalition - the MakePovertyHistory Irish campaign. It is part of the Global Call to Action against Poverty - a massive movement of people who share a vision of a better world. All these people are united by a common symbol - a white band.
We are happy to endorse the aims of the MakePovertyHistory Irish campaign: to work for trade justice, to drop the unpayable debts of poor countries and to meet our international obligations on aid, ensuring it is well spent to reduce poverty. - Yours, etc,
Rev DES BAIN, President of the Methodist Church in Ireland; Most Rev SEÁN BRADY, Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland; RACHEL M. BEWLEY-BATEMAN, Clerk of Ireland Yearly Meeting, Religious Society of Friends; Major MARGARET FOZZARD, Dublin City Corps, The Salvation Army; Most Rev JOHN KIRBY, Bishop of Clonfert, Chairman of Trócaire; Most Rev DIARMUID MARTIN, Archbishop of Dublin; Rev Dr FRITZ MEYER, Pastor, Lutheran Church in Ireland; Most Rev JOHN NEILL, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin; Dr MARTIN SAUTER, Chair, Dublin Council of Churches.
Madam, - Regimes which have been responsible for rape, torture and murder will benefit handsomely from the upcoming G8 summit at Gleneagles.
Governments which have shown themselves to be endemically corrupt, incompetent and have little interest in the lives of their own people will find themselves rewarded financially at this gathering of the worlds' richest nations.
Yet not a single poor or vulnerable person in Darfur (400,000 dead), Congo (5 million dead), Zimbabwe (200,000 evicted from their homes), or northern Uganda (20,000 dead, 2 million displaced) is likely to be any better off after next weekend's deliberations and decisions.
The truth, unpalatable as it may be to some, is that where good honest governance is absent, debt relief and doubling of aid will make no difference to the lives of the poorest people.
Sadly it may even make things worse, given the central role the arms trade play in ensuring that those at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder remain at the mercy of unscrupulous dictators, tyrants, and kleptocrats. - Yours, etc,
JOHN O'SHEA, GOAL, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin.