WCC News: Religious leaders call for "Zacchaeus moment" in global tax reform

Faith leaders gathered at the All Africa Conference of Churches chapel in Nairobi in November to demand tax justice as the United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation entered its third session of negotiations.  Mr Ignatius Michael Uhuru Dempers (in printed shirt), representing the LWF at the November 2025 UN tax negotiations’ discussions in Nairobi. Photo: LWF/I. Toroitich 18 December 2025 The UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation is a proposed global treaty to overhaul century-old international tax rules. The World Council of Churches (WCC), together with the Lutheran World Federation, Norwegian Church Aid, Christian Aid, and the All Africa Conference of Churches, brought together religious voices to challenge a system that allows multinational corporations and the ultra-wealthy to evade taxation.  The interfaith prayer service and policy dialogue drew Christian, Muslim, and civil society leaders who confronted global economic structures that let the wealthy dodge taxes while billions struggle to afford food and housing. "This is not just a technical or diplomatic event. It is a period of moral reckoning; a time in which we must confront the global injustices that have kept Africa and the developing world on the margins of prosperity and human dignity," Rev. Dr Fidon Mwombeki, All Africa Conference of Churches general secretary, told participants. Speakers returned to the Biblical story of Zacchaeus, the tax collector who encountered Jesus and pledged to restore fourfold what he had exploited. "This is the spirit behind the Zacchaeus Tax Campaign, a call for restitution and reform in the global financial system. It is a reminder that true justice demands ethical transformation, not just fiscal adjustment," Mwombeki said. Uhuru Dempers, WCC Climate Justice and Sustainable Development commissioner and policy advisor for the Council of Churches in Namibia, described how the current system devastates African nations. "I come from Namibia - currently ranked the second most unequal country in the world - located in a region known as the most unequal globally. Africa is my home: a rich continent with poor people." On 29 October, Namibia paid 13.5 billion Namibian dollars (750 million US dollars) to service a Eurobond loan borrowed in 2015. "If the international taxation system and global financial architecture were fair, we would not need such loans. We were forced to choose between repaying this debt and postponing essential investments in basic income grants, healthcare, housing, and sanitation," he said. Speaking on behalf of faith actors, Bishop Nelson Kisare, presiding bishop of the Mennonite Church of Tanzania, called for Article 9 on Sustainable Development in the UN Tax Convention to strengthen linkages between tax and sustainable development. "Rising inequality continues to widen the gap between the super-rich and ordinary citizens. Through tax evasion, avoidance, and illicit financial flows, the wealthiest amass vast fortunes while draining billions from public treasuries," he said. Faith leaders demanded that UN negotiators curb illicit financial flows, reform global tax rules to serve people rather than corporate profits, tax wealth and capital progressively, and give developing countries equal voice in global tax governance. The gathering connects with WCC's Zacchaeus Campaign for Tax Justice, launched in July 2019 at the United Nations in New York, and the "Turn Debt into Hope" global debt jubilee campaign, launched in 2025. Both operate under the New International Financial and Economic Architecture (NIFEA) initiative.  The initiatives unite the WCC, World Communion of Reformed Churches, Lutheran World Federation, Council for World Mission, Caritas Internationalis, Jubilee USA, the Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development, and other partners. ZacTax Campaign Turn Debt into Hope Campaign New International Financial and Economic Architecture (NIFEA) See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 356 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa.  Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches Chemin du Pommier 42 Kyoto Building Le Grand-Saconnex CH-1218 Switzerland