A Quick Into to Jubilee
 The disastrous flooding in Central America is prompting loud calls for the world's richest nations to cancel the debts of the poorest nations. Relieving debt would be like casting a lifeline to a drowning person. Massive international aid will save lives after Hurricane Mitch, but Central America is drowning in red ink, and, like other parts of the world, must come up for air. The world's poorest nations need hope, say those who are part of a movement to bring about cancellation of their debts. More than 40 impoverished countries -- many in Africa, Latin America, and parts of Asia -- owe vast amounts of money to rich nations such as the United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Germany, and to international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Hundreds of millions of ordinary people live in poverty in these nations, and they did not see any noticeable benefit from the loans that gave rise to the debt. Impoverished nations reportedly owe more than $2 trillion to industrialized nations, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. The 41 poorest countries, most of which are in Africa, owed $217 billion in 1996. Jubilee 2000, a group active in 42 countries, is campaigning to influence leaders in the world's richest countries, banks, and international lending agencies to write off the debts of the world's poorest nations by the end of the year 2000. The name comes from Leviticus 25, which describes a year every 50 years when all debts are canceled and land is returned to its original owners. "It's gotten to a point where it is just not payable," David Bryden of Jubilee 2000/USA told Religion Today. "People are saying that something has got to be done if these societies are ever going to be rebuilt. It's time to admit it and come up with a fresh start and a means to prevent them from getting into debt in the future." Poor countries are trapped into making unending interest payments on their debts, Bryden said. This requires them to divert large amounts of resources from health care, education, and food, inhibiting the social and economic development needed to lift people out of poverty. Countries in sub-Saharan Africa spend more each year on repaying their debts than on all primary education and health care, Jubilee 2000/USA says. A number of religious groups and relief organizations have endorsed the goals of Jubilee 2000. They include Bread for the World, Church World Service (part of the National Council of Churches), Baptist World Alliance, the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Lutheran World Relief, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, Mennonite Central Committee, OXFAM-America, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), United Church of Christ/Disciples of Christ Joint Board for World Ministries, the United Methodist Church's General Board for Church and Society, and the U.S. Catholic Mission Association. Pope John Paul II has said he supports the campaign. Some secular environmental, development, and social justice organizations also are involved. Former president Jimmy Carter has expressed support, and Archbishop Tutu of South Africa calls it a "new moral crusade." A petition drive has begun in 70 countries with a goal of collecting 22 million signatures. In Birmingham, England, 70,000 demonstrators presented 1.2 million signatures at a May meeting of the financial leaders of the world's top industrialized nations. Norway plans to forgive half of the debts owed to it by poor nations by 2000, and Germany has promised to make debt cancellation a priority. The Clinton administration has supported the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative, a plan by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to reduce and reschedule the debt payments of a few poor countries. The United States has insisted that there be strict accountability to prevent fraud. Most poor countries have tried but failed to pay their debts, paying only part of what is owed. "The reality is that the debt cannot and will not be repaid" and it is senseless "to pretend otherwise," Jubilee 2000 said. Debt relief is not unconditional, Bryden said. It would not go toward "letting dictators off the hook," but be afforded only to countries "willing to engage in free and fair debate with civil society about how the savings from debt relief are to be redirected." This takes "a lot of oversight." Large-scale debt cancellation has occurred in the past. Instances include Germany's debt after World War II, the debts of Eastern European nations such as Poland after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and debts incurred by Egypt as a result of the Gulf War.

14th November 98
From http://www.religiontoday.com/

For more see my: Jubilee for Beginners 1