Campaigns around Debt Issues

Do you remember the Birmingham Chain in 1998? The sense of excitement as churches and other groups began to recognise that their petitions and postcards were making a difference? The moment when governments and international institutions began to talk about 100% debt relief as a goal?

Campaigning on debt is one of the signal successes of the last decade. The job is far from done and dusted -- what debt cancellation is available is still offered to too few countries, covers too few forms of debt, and comes with too many conditions attached. But if anyone had said fifteen years ago that 100% debt relief would have been offered by any of the international financial institutions to any developing country, they would have been dismissed as dreamers. Jubilee 2000 and the international Jubilee campaigns helped to change the landscape of debate. As Jubilee 2000's final report said "The World Will Never Be the Same Again."

Jubilee 2000's successor campaign, Jubilee Debt Campaign, continues to call for 100% cancellation -- by fair and transparent means -- of unfair and unpayable developing country debts. Organised as a coalition of local/regional groups and national organisations, including CAFOD, Christian Aid, the United Reformed Church and World Vision, Jubilee Debt Campaign focuses its campaigning and advocacy work on UK Government policy, both internal and with respect to the International Financial Institutions (the World Bank and IMF). JDC works in partnership with two other UK-based successors to Jubilee 2000 -- Jubilee Research@nef and Jubilee Scotland -- as well as with other northern and southern debt-related campaigns.

You can find out more about JDC's goals by reading their vision statement "Breaking the Chains," sign up on their website to receive briefings and campaign materials, locate the JDC group nearest you via their listing of groups in the Southeast region), or find out how to become a Jubilee Congregation

JDC currently has three campaigns:
 
  • End the Vulture Culture , which is asking the Government to take action on "Vulture Funds," which  seek to scavenge profit from developing-country debts
  • Pick Up the Pace , which asks the UK to deliver the UK multilateral debt relief scheme to all the poorest countries; cancel all developing countries' unpayable and unjust debts, including export credits; and use the UK's influence to persuade other wealthy countries, companies and institutions to cancel all unpayable and unjust poor-country debts
  • Drop Arms Debt , which asks the UK to drop Indonesia's arms debt, incurred to pay for weapons that were used by General Suharto against his own people.

JDC's website also has a comprehensive listing of other northern and southern campaigns around debt and economic justice. The Northern campaigns include:

  • The Bretton Woods Project, which offers a critique of the International Financial Institutions and includes up-to-the-minute news and analysis
  • Eurodad , the European Network on Debt and Development, a coalition of 53 European NGOs working on debt, with a strong policy focus
  • Jubilee USA Network,with a good website and strong resources for churches

The Southern campaigns include:

  • Afrodad , the African Forum and Network on Debt and Development, which seeks policies that "will redress the African debt crisis based on a human rights value system."
  • Jubilee South , a network of 85 anti-debt groups from over 40 countries in the Africa, Asia/Pacific, and Latin American regions. It is currently focusing on illegitimate debt. If you read Spanish and want to get a really good sense of where the Latin American campaigns are going, go to the Jubileo-Sur email archives.
  • Jubilee Zambia , a national campaign founded in 1998 by the three major church groups in Zambia; its website contains many country-specific resources