Scholars and students from different religious traditions explore ways to confront economic inequality at OSCE outreach event in Rome

Confronting the growing economic inequality in the OSCE region and beyond was the topic of an inter-religious dialogue organized by the OSCE Secretariat’s Communication and Media Relations Department (COMMS), the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Angelicum’s Faculty of Social Sciences on 30 November 2015 in Rome.

The public outreach event, held at the St Thomas Pontifical University (Angelicum), was the third in a series of so-called Helsinki 40 plus events organized by COMMS in partnership with academic institutions over the course of this year to commemorate the 40^th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act.

While economic security is usually discussed in the context of a market economy, this event pushed back the parameters to explore the contribution that different traditions of religious thought could make to the idea of economic wellbeing. Senior scholars from the Islamic, Christian and Hindu faiths shared insights on economic theory and practice.

“The current system has failed us miserably; the poor are paying the debts of the rich. How do we shift from this to the right priorities?” asked Shaykh Haytham Tamim, Director of Shariah Solutions, a London-based consultancy firm on Islamic finance, and Vice-President of the Association of Shariah Scholars in Islamic Finance for Europe. Drawing on the Sunnah, he named fostering love and spreading peace, looking after the needs of the community, having a good relationship with one’s family and praying during the night as the four pillars of a just human society.

Sister Alessandra Smerilli, Professor of Economics at the Pontifical Atheneum “Auxilium” in Rome, said: “The freedom and fraternity that characterize our European societies were made possible by the market economy, which historically is a product of the Christian humanistic tradition. The market is an instrument that can be abused by darkened human reason and must be used wisely.” She stressed the importance of infusing the market with the logic of gift-giving in accordance with the Catholic notions of justice and charity, to ensure that inequality does not grow.

Invoking the Hindu principle of simple living and high thinking, Bharti Tailor, Executive Director of the Hindu Forum of Europe, explained how the Hindu joint family system of pooled incomes permits each stage of life to be lived according to its particular potential for contributing to the community’s economic and spiritual wellbeing. “Hindus are taught by the scriptures to live on what one needs, not what one wants,” she said.

In small group discussions, the scholars, event organizers, students and other members of the audience from a variety of countries and faith traditions explored strategies for individuals, civil society and governments to confront inequality. These ranged from building wealth-sharing into one’s personal financial planning to stepping up the fight against state corruption.

The Helsinki 40 plus outreach events take the anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act as an opportunity to look forward. Drawing inspiration from the many avenues for co-operation identified by that seminal document, they combine the perspectives of academic experts, practitioners and an actively engaged audience to explore aspects of comprehensive security that are not in the political limelight of the OSCE yet essential to its work.

The first Helsinki 40 plus event took place in Kyiv on 19 October on the topic of the OSCE and citizens. The second, held in Reykjavik on 13 October, was devoted to a discussion of past, present and future roles of small states in the OSCE.