The International Specialised Catholic Action Movements (Miacs) represent more than 500 movements around the world with a great diversity of countries and backgrounds. One year of exchanges about the impacts of the Covid on the respective members resulted in the common conviction that “a system that cannot solve these problems […] must change”. The pandemic brutally aggravates pre-existing problems such as unemployment, inequalities between genders, between rich and poor within and between countries as shown by various surveys carried out by Midade, Fimarc and the IYCW.

Human dignity is threatened by these inequalities and, as the declaration states, by “the rejection of the other by nationalism, racism or indifference, the withdrawal into self-interest or the unlimited desire for wealth or power, the deception of information, fake news, the reduction of the human being to a producer and a consumer.” Both personal and structural conversions are therefore necessary, as the MIACS conclude. They contribute to these conversions by actions of solidarity, education and support. “It was important for us to show that we are not just demanding, but engage actively in different activities all over the world,” states Philippe Ledouble, general secretary of Icmica Pax Romana and one of the declaration’s key authors. “Everything, including governmental structures, needs to serve the common good, solidarity and justice in order to achieve a dignified life for all.”

Concretely, the MIACS hope for dignified work, food and housing for all as well as strong Social Protection. It must be possible to engage in agriculture and fishing in a way that respects the planet, while planetary boundaries are to be respected by all. In the same line, everyone needs to contribute to the common good according to their own financial capacities, which implies the high demand for a higher taxation of digital giants.

Click here to download the full declaration