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· IOGT INTERNATIONAL is an organisation of men and women of all ages who promote the ideals of temperance, peace and brotherhood. · IOGT (International Organisation of Good Templars) is the largest international non-governmental organisation working in the field of temperance. · It is a voluntary, democratic organisation based on the work of committed lay people. · IOGT promotes cultural and educational activities for the benefit of all. |
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Article Dear brothers and sisters 2004/27/2 The World Congress 2002 in Eastbourne, England made impor tant decisions about IOGT Internationals Structure, Work and Role. Less than a year later, I am very glad to see how members and associates all over the world are welcoming as well as asking for the task we now have to fulfil. In Eastbourne, we agreed upon the role of IOGT, which should be: To bring together in a worldwide body, organizations, institutions and foundations from all countries, which can accept the platform of IOGT and To form alliances with other international bodies with similar concerns. Our priority areas are: Alcohol policy advocacy and pre-vention. Drugs policy and prevention. Rehabilitation. Work with children. Youth work and youth culture. Solidarity and development co-operation. There is no doubt that there is a need, on the international level, to supp-port an effective network and bring together organizations, institutions and foundations from all over the world for international fellowship and furtherance of the temperance platform. IOGT International can and will play that role. This work will have the highest priority during this four years period, before we meet again in Congress. There is a need to counterbalance the drinks industry at an international level and to encourage the development of alcohol policy at international and regional level. There is also a need for policies concerning alcohol to be formulated by public health interests, without interference from the drinks industry. In order to achieve success in this field, many things need to be done. It is also important to note that IOGT International is not only a temperance body. We have a broader perspective. Today, we can see good and bad signs in the development. Democracy is spreading to a number of countries which only decades ago were military dictatorships or under the control of a dictator. But real democracy on the local level is not widely spread. We can see efforts of peace and reconciliation in regions affected by war and internal conflicts. As a group, the developing countries has, in 30 years, mana ged to do what Europe needed 100 years to reach, to increase the average of life expectancy and decrease the child mortality. We have seen a number of developing countries having cut the poverty rate into half but there are still more than one billion people in the world living in absolute poverty. But poverty is not only lack of money. The World Bank made a survey about poverty, called Voices of the poor. One example from that survey is a man from Georgia. When asked to describe the reality of poverty, he says: "Poverty is lack of freedom, enslaved by crushing daily burden, by depresssion and fear of what the future will bring. And the poorest among the poor are the women. We need to work for their empowerment. This is also the focus for our developing agencies. They are wor-king with the people, on the grassroots level, but depending of countries, also on policy levels. Equity is a question of power. On the other hand, wealth is not only a question of money wealth is health, knowledge, security and possi-bilities for the individual to raise her or his voice to improve their living conditions. There are many obstacles to health. Environmental threats, tobacco, alcohol and other drugs. We are concerned by that. Today the international community is talking about Global Goods goods with no boarders, no national ownership. Some of them are environmental like pollution, but we have drugs and infections as well. The only world wide organization who has the mandate to deal with this is the United Nations. From our perspective we must work for the possibility for that organization to meet the demand. It is a step forward when WHO are now paying attention to Alcohol as a problem related to Developing Countries. If our work will be more or less successful, that it is up to us all to manage. I am convinced that we all have the ambition to do our best. Sven-Olov Carlsson International President, IOGT International  Back to main page |
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