NEW YORK, OCT. 9, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The fight to eradicate poverty needs both economic and social policies, since underprivileged sectors lack opportunities to develop networks , the Holy See said at the United Nations. Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Holy See's permanent observer to the United Nations, affirmed that today at an address before the 62nd U.N. General Assembly. He lauded the effort to implement the Millennium Development Goals and equity in financial and trade relationships

Archbishop Migliore noted that debate in past years has "touched on
the problems of external debt, the governance of world finance and the
emergencies that generate or aggravate poverty, s uch as wars,
corruption, the trafficking of drugs and human beings.

 "While this discussion is of utmost importance, it is equally
important to reiterate that economic policies cannot be separated from
social policies; otherwise, neither one nor the other will reach its
respective goal," he added.

 The archbishop lamented that "during the last 12 years there has been
a clear tendency toward increasing inequality between rich and poor,
between developed and developing or underdeveloped countries and
within individual nations. Evidently, the greater benefits of global
economic growth have not reached, generally speaking, the poorer
segments of society."

 Weaker sectors

 The Holy See official further stated that new forms of poverty have
appeared alongside "more traditional ones mainly characterized by wide
income differences."

 He explained: "The dearth of means among the weaker sectors of
society has led to the loss of social relationships and networks
needed to maintain personal integrity and dignity. Such is the case of
the elderly left on their own, of the uninsured sick people, of the
unemployed and the unskilled, of migrants unable to find work, of
women and children suffering from family breakdown, of all those in
precarious situations.

 "Today the world suffers from the unhinging, in greater or lesser
degree, of social development from economic progress. Hence the
Copenhagen Declaration and Program of Action continue to be relevant.
They indicate the necessary means to overcome marginalization and to
create the conditions for all to benefit from economic development."

 Archbishop Migliore asserted that the responsibility for social
equity lies primarily with individual governments, but encouraged the
international community to establish conditions favorable to the
growth of all national economies, while rejecting policies that
restrict states from helping less favored people.

 Above all, the archbishop encouraged education.

 "Education is at the basis of all social policies," he said. "The
value of education goes beyond economic development and the
satisfaction of one's basic needs. Education enables individuals and
peoples to establish with others relationships founded on mutual
respect and friendship and not on coercion.

 "An educated society facilitates the fight against corruption that
erodes the possibility of economic growth of the poorest. It also
helps create a legal framework that leaves ample space to the rights
of property and free enterprise, while safeguarding at the same time
the full enjoyment of the social and economic rights of all without
exception."

 Archbishop Migliore concluded, "The eradication of poverty and the
full enjoyment of the basic social rights by all must therefore be
goals enshrined in all economic and develop ment policies, and be
measures of their success or failure."