Today the 2005 debt deal comes fully into effect one year on from the G8 meeting at Gleneagles. Tomorrow it will be the anniversary of Live 8 – the Make Poverty History Edinburgh event that demanded debt cancellation. Next Saturday will be one year since the G8 leaders signed the communiqué promising debt cancellation. During the year I have been interviewing Stephen Rand (co-chair of the Julbilee Debt Campaign) on a regular basis. Stephen has a trendous grasp of the issues, a big heart, and a passion for these important issues of Trade Justice and Debt Cancelletion. Here are some facts to report on debt cancellation:
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Hundreds of thousands have participated in the Jubilee movement for debt cancellation over the past ten years
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Hundreds of thousands more participated in Make Poverty History in 2005, which included the call to ‘Drop the Debt’
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The facts of the G8 debt deal are regularly described inaccurately
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There is significant unfinished business
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Some countries are already using the benefits of the debt deal to combat poverty – there is a human interest story at the heart of the debt crisis
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Debt is not an isolated issue – it is bound up with aid and trade; it impacts the environment, it affects woman and children, it undermines democracy
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The UK has made money from Africa as a result of Nigeria’s debt deal
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The economic conditions demanded in return for debt relief are often highly damaging
Though the G8 debt deal was reported as a major success from the Gleneagles Summit. The Jubillee Debt Campaign asks: Will it deliver a new deal for the world’s poor? And whose fault will it be if it does not? For more info:
www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/media
The Jubilee Debt Campaign is a coalition of national organisations and local and regional groups calling for 100% cancellation of unpayable and unjust poor country debts by fair and transparent means. Member organisations include churches, other faith groups, trade unions, and major aid agencies. Jubilee Debt Campaign was a core coalition of Make Poverty History.
