Birmingham Friends of the Earth Action Briefing Dec 98/Jan 99

Jubilee 2000 - Third World Debt

The unfortunate disaster resulting from Hurricane Mitch has helped raise the public's awareness of the problems of debt which is linked to so much poverty and suffering. Other countries such as France, Spain and Cuba are far more agreeable to writing off the debt due by the Latin American nations involved.

The Jubilee 2000 campaign to reduce debt owed by the Third World, affecting one billion people, is supported by Friends of The Earth. In many instances over-lending and/or irresponsible lending by the World Bank and IMF has exacerbated these problems. It is interesting to note that according to information supplied by the House of Commons library, Britain "could easily afford to carry out a total cancellation of the debts owed to it by the poorest countries in the developing world". The research concludes that the cost of cancellation is likely to be about œ1 - œ2 per year per taxpayer. That's only 4p per week.

Jubilee 2000 are still very active in Birmingham with the current focus on obtaining 23 million signatures for their petitions and organising another human chain, or similar peaceful presence, in Cologne next June. Cologne will be hosting the next G8 Summit where the leaders of the World's richest nations will be meeting. This will also be the last G8 Summit before the millennium. It is hoped these actions will raise the issues higher on the G8 agenda, which in turn will lead to positive action on debt reduction.

If you would like to help the Jubilee 2000 campaign please phone them via the Christian Aid office on 0121 643 2249.

Or visit their Web Site at http://www.jubilee2000uk.org