Of these, justice is the foremost. It is the main motive for political action aimed at creating conditions in which people are able to practise responsibility, solidarity and good husbandry. Public justice means that government carries out executive tasks where it is competent to do so (such as e.g. to guarantee minimum living conditions, environmental standards and defence) ... The principle of justice requires that we should attach particular weight to the voice of the poor, the powerless and the oppressed ... In the field of development co-operation Christians have no reason to remain silent. The Gospel tells us to love our distant neighbour as ourselves.11
In their conclusions the Christian Democrats call on all industrialised countries to meet the United Nations 0.7 per cent target figure for overseas aid contributions and conclude that bilateral aid programmes are usually more geared to the interests of the donors than the recipients. They argue that diversification must be the hallmark of development co-operation, both in substance and structure. To achieve this will require 'intense co-ordination of the various activities which are being devised at this moment at the European level.'12 Even more fundamentally they say we will combat poverty through structural shifts of power: institutionalised changes which ensure that money and trade are geared to serving the needs of developing countries, rather than crippling them. They warn the West not to project its own standards, customs and institutions on the under-developed countries. They argue that the place of women in the developing countries is central:
Women in the Third World must be enabled to speak for themselves ... It is further our opinion that development for man only is no development at all, but a monstrosity leading to disaster. The role of women as pillars of development must be given much more prominence.13
They see the need for dialogue and honesty in assessing priorities. Wherever possible developing countries must be able, and where necessary enabled, to shape their own development. Where we intervene in the domestic aspects of development it must be done from a sense of responsibility and not paternalism. As with domestic poverty it has not been a lack of analyses, visions, intentions and rules which have militated against a fundamental shift in political direction, but rather the absence of a mentality orientated towards social justice and development