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Date: Wed, 07 Mar 2001 22:44:03 -0000
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Subject: [jubilee-usa-net] Jubilee USA Action Alert - March, 2001
JUBILEE USA NETWORK ACTION ALERT MARCH, 2001
Please take time to act now, and send this Alert to others. Thank you!
Write President Bush and your members of Congress today. Tell them it
is time to complete the unfinished business of Jubilee debt
cancellation. Ask them to instruct the World Bank (WB), International
Monetary Fund (IMF), Inter-American Development Bank and Asian
Development Bank to cancel the debts of low-income countries now,
using their own resources, without requiring Structural Adjustment
Programs, and without requiring privatization of public resources
such as water.
Ask President Bush to make debt cancellation a top priority for
action this year. Remind him of his campaign promise to cancel debts
of Third World countries. Urge him to advocate with other creditor
country leaders for cancellation of debts owed to the World Bank,
IMF, and regional development banks. Thank him for putting $240
million in his budget for debt reduction. Make the connection between
debt and the global AIDS crisis, which Bush has also promised to act
on.
Contact:
1) Please send a signed letter to: President George W. Bush, The
White House, Washington, DC 20500
2) Please send similar letters to your Senators: (A complete list is
available at www.senate.gov) US Senate, Washington, DC 20510
3) Please send a similar letter to your Representative: (A complete
list is available at www.house.gov) US House of Representatives,
Washington, DC 20510
Background:
Today international debt has become a new form of slavery for more
than a billion people in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the
Caribbean. Debt slavery means poor people working harder and harder
in a vain effort to keep up with the interest payments on debts owed
to rich countries. Consider:
- More than 18,000 children die each day because loan repayments to
the rich countries come before health care for the poor.
- Debt slavery is foreign aid in reverse--for every dollar sent to
the poorest countries in aid, $1.30 flows back to lenders in debt
service payments. (The LIVE AID concert raised $200 million for
Africa—but Africa is billed more than that each week in debt
repayments.)
- Rich countries have perpetuated the cycle of debt and poverty by
requiring borrowers to submit to IMF and WB Structural Adjustment
Programs (SAPs) which typically reduce living standards by
requiring "user fees" or "cost-sharing" for public education and
health care and "privatization" (cost-sharing) of public goods such
as water.
As we assess the global situation and the human cost of debt, it is
appropriate to ask, "who owes what to whom?" Jubilee USA Network is a
coalition of faith-based groups and non-governmental organizations
working to break the chains of debt. We are calling for complete
cancellation of the crushing debts of the most heavily indebted
countries, without IMF and WB conditions but with full accountability
to civil society in each country. We are part of the global Jubilee
movement that is now active in 69 countries.
Last October, the US Congress approved $435 million for reduction of
the debts of the so-called Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC).
Altogether, the richest countries and their international financial
institutions have reduced developing country debt by about $34
billion. However, the HIPC countries alone are making payments on
debts of over $220 billion. When other very low-income countries such
as Nigeria, Bangladesh, Haiti, Peru, and the Philippines are
included, the total is more than $350 billion. The total debt of the
global South is many times greater.
Congress also approved a breakthrough provision requiring that US
representatives to the IMF, WB, and regional development banks vote
against and oppose any loan agreements that include "user fees" on
basic education and health care for poor people. This year we are
advocating for extension of this victory to include opposition to
forced privatization of public water supplies.
The modest debt reduction won over the past two years has helped—in
Uganda, school enrollment has doubled since user-fees on basic
education were removed. The 22 countries that qualified for partial
debt reduction by the end of 2000 will reduce their debt service
payments by an average of about 30%. But much more is needed.
During the second campaign debate (October 12) President Bush said "I
think we ought to be forgiving Third World debt under certain
conditions." Bush has now added $240 million for debt reduction to
his budget. Bush has also pledged action to curb the AIDS pandemic.
Challenge the President to act boldly now.
Much bolder action is needed:
- AIDS campaigners estimate between $7.5-$15 billion annually is
required for a minimally adequate effort to curb the AIDS epidemic in
Africa alone. - The current "HIPC" debt reduction is still tied to
IMF and World Bank structural adjustment programs which hurt the poor.
- Most HIPC countries will continue to spend more on debt repayments
to rich countries than on health.
DROP THE MULTILATERAL DEBT NOW!
Jubilee campaigns around the world are calling for 100% cancellation
of low-income developing country debt by the IMF and World Bank. The
Fund, Bank and other international financial institutions such as the
Inter-American Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank are
able to write-off all HIPC debt and many other low-income country
debts, using their own resources, without additional taxpayer
appropriations and without impairing their credit ratings or balance
sheets.
Please Act Now! Contact your Members of Congress and President Bush
today. Pass this Jubilee Action Alert along to others. Thank you very
much!
Proclaim liberty throughout the land, to all the inhabitants thereof.
(Leviticus 25:10)
"True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it
understands that an edifice which produces beggars needs
restructuring. A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on
the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth." Rev. Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr.
For more information: www.j2000usa.org or [log in to unmask]
--------------------------------
We are up and running as the Jubilee Network! Please bear with us if
communications are a little slow at times over the next few weeks.
We are running with an abbreviated office at the moment as we
transition to a new structure and staff, which will make us stronger
in the end. Your involvement is very important to us, and we look
forward to working together with all Jubilee Network members and
supporters to truly end the burden of crushing debt.
- Tim Atwater ([log in to unmask]) and Patrick Twomey
([log in to unmask]), interim staff
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