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Introduction

Jubilee 2000 is an international movement in over 65 countries advocating a debt-free start to the Millennium for a billion people. Jubilee 2000 in the UK is a coalition of over 100 organisations.We are calling for:

Unpayable Debts of the World's poorest countries – Over 50 countries in the world have debts that will never be paid back but continue to be paid daily with people's lives. The debt burden of the poorest countries is 127% of their income. In Zambia, every citizen now owes the country's creditors $708 - more than twice the average annual income. Every year resources are being diverted from health, education and sanitation towards unproductive debt service. The United Nations Development Programme in 1997 stated that 21 million children's lives could be saved if the money used for debt service was put into health and education.

The year 2000 – The debt crisis in the developing world has had a devastating impact since its emergence in 1982. The Jubilee 2000 campaign believes that it is time to give a deadline for action to the creditors. The campaign is inspired by the scriptural idea of the Jubilee Year: periodically, every 7 x 7 years (ie 50years). debts are forgiven and slaves set free, and "liberty is proclaimed throughout the land". Jubilee is a time to apply self-righting mechanisms for restoring balance to society.

Under a fair and transparent process – The current lending and debt relief process is fundamentally unjust. International loans are negotiated in secret between local elites and powerful creditors like the IMF, the World Bank and government export credit agencies. Loans are often made for political reasons or to promote exports. Mobutu received $8.5 billion dollars in loans despite widespread knowledge of his corruption and abuses of power. In Britain, 96% of the debts owed to Britain by the poorest countries are owed to the DTI's Export Credit Guarantee Dept., as inducements to buy British exports. Yet it is ordinary people who pay the costs as funds are diverted from water, health, education and sanitation into debt repayment. There is no international bankruptcy law so no line is drawn under unpayable debts. Instead any debt relief negotiations are always driven by creditors, who are naturally unwilling to write off debts.

For basic questions and answers on Jubilee 2000, click here

All Jubilee 2000's costs are met by voluntary contributions from our coalition members, partners and friends.

Time is running out if we are to ensure a debt free start for millions of people by the year 2000. We must get our message to as wide and diverse an audience as possible. Materials are vital tools and need to be updated and distributed to enable our message to reach and enable the many people who we still need to reach to support our aims and objectives. If you or your organisation or company could help us to ensure the success of Jubilee 2000, please get in touch.

Milestones in the Campaign

1990 – All African Council of Churches called for a Year of Jubilee to cancel Africa's debts

1994 – Martin Dent (professor in Keele University) linked up with Bill Peters (ex-Diplomat, Malawi) and Isabel Carter (Community News Editor, Tearfund) to promote the Jubilee 2000 campaign in the UK.

April 1996 – Jubilee 2000 campaign in the UK launched by three major Christian aid agencies in Britain and by the World Development Movement.

March 1997 – International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, representing 124 million workers, backed Jubilee 2000 campaign as “well-devised and realistic.”

April 1997 – Women's organisation in India toured Southern India addressing meetings and collecting 30,000 Petition Signatures

October 1997 – Jubilee 2000 UK became a coalition of over 60 national organisations. The Board was elected with members from churches, trade unions, aid agencies, campaigning and black community groups

February 1998 – German and UK Campaign marked 45th anniversary of London Debt Agreement in which Germany was granted huge debt relief after the Second World War. CAFOD dumped fake gold bullion outside German embassy, Christian Aid supporters sent in thousands of postcards.

April 1998 - The Jubilee 2000 Afrika Campaign was launched in Accra, Ghana attended by activists and delegates from 20 countries on the Africa continent.

16th May 1998 – 70,000 people formed a human chain around G8 Summit in Birmingham, UK. UK Prime Minister Tony Blair met Jubilee 2000 Organisers.

24th September 1998 – Mock Voting Booths were put up outside German embassies in Tokyo, Oslo and London, Edinburgh and Manchester with people voting for debt relief in the run up to the German General Election.

1st-4th October 1998 - Jubilee 2000 USA National Conference

15-17 November 1998 - 38 National Jubilee 2000 Campaigns and 12 International Organisations meet in Rome to decide common policy and campaign strategy

January 1999 - Pope John Paul II calls for urgent debt relief to ensure the millennium becomes "a time of renewed hope"

25-27 January 1999 -Launching of the Latin American and Caribbean Jubilee 2000 Campaign in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, with the participation of 16 countries.

April 1999 -First Foreign Debt Tribunal in Rio, Brazil. Around 1,200 people attended.

April 1999 Mozambique's President backs Jubilee 2000 and calls for total debt cancellation

April 30 1999 Philippines campaigners form human chain around Asian Development Bank in Manila

May 1999 Comic Relief launches Debt Wish campaign

24 May 1999 President-elect Obasanjo calls for 'immediate and substantial debt relief' for Nigeria and pledges to fight corruption

10 June 1999 Bono goes online to talk about debt in world's biggest Net chat

12 June 1999 10,000 form human chain in Edinburgh

13 June 1999 50,000 join hands around river Thames to call on Blair to drop the debt

19 June 1999 50,000 form human chains in Cologne and Stuttgart to demand G7 drop the debt. $100 billion debt cancelled

23 July 1999 UNICEF report reveals devastating impact of debt on children

September 1999 Thousands of US supporters join 'rolling fast' to highlight debt crisis

23 September 1999 Pope meets Jubilee 2000 delegation including Bono, Jeffrey Sachs, Bob Geldof, Willie Colon and Ann Pettifor

29 September 1999 Clinton agrees to cancel 100% of bilateral debt owed to USA

11 November 1999 4000 form human chain and blow trumpets outside British Treasury to call for 100% debt cancellation

13 November 1999 Thousands take to the streets in over 20 cities in Spain to call for debt cancellation in advance of Ibero-American Summit

30 November 1999 30,000 form Human Chain for debt cancellation at WTO conference

17 December 1999 Gordon Brown announces 100% bilateral debt cancellation for 26 countries

28 January 2000 Uganda, Mauritania and Bolivia expected to gain long-awaited debt relief at end of January, but process of decision comes under question as countries like Guyana and Nigeria are excluded

10 February 2000 TV Telethon holds debate on debt in Haiti. 8,000 campaigners add their voice by chanting "Yes to life! No to debt!" outside TV studios in Port-au-Prince.

23 February 2000 Italian Prime Minister agrees to rethink debt policy, as San Remo music festival turns Italian spotlight on debt crisis

25 February 2000 Spanish campaigners hand in a million petition signatures to Parliament in record-breaking social initiative

29 February 2000 UK Government agrees to stop collecting debt repayments from Mozambique. Jubilee 2000 calls on international community to follow with 100% cancellation

9 March 2000 Canadian debt campaigners welcome government commitment to cancel 100% of 19 poor countries debts, but condemn linking of debt relief to structural adjustment

31 March 2000 US Congressional Meltzer Commission provokes widespread debate and UNCTAD support for its call for poor country debt write-off

10 April 2000 Japan, Germany and France have announced "100%" debt cancellation for the poorest countries, which means all G7 countries have promised 100% cancellation. But this does not mean total cancellation of poor country debt and delivery of full debt cancellation is still a long way off.

April 2000 40 African heads of state call for urgent debt cancellation to fight battle against malaria WHO conference in Nigeria stresses links between debt and health

16 May 2000 Bolivian civil society calls for popular involvement in government’s debt reduction strategy at conclusion of mass consultation exercise on poverty reduction

21-23 July 2000: Jubilee 2000 activities around the world during the G8 Summit in Okinawa are all broadcast on the SummitWatch website. The G8 face worldwide condemnation as they spend £500m on the summit, but fail to make any progress on debt relief .

August 2000: Nigeria adds a million signatures to Jubilee 2000's petition, and the capital Abuja is plastered with cancel the debt signs for Clinton's visit.

September 2000: More than five million Brazilians vote against foreign debt payments and a deal with the IMF in an informal referendum (15 September 2000)

23 September 2000: Campaigners hold funeral procession at IMF and World Bank meetings in Prague to mark 19,000 lives that are lost each day to the debt crisis.

October: Double celebrations as United States lawmakers find $435 million for debt relief, while winning key pledge from World Bank to end support for user fees on health and education.

2 December 2000: Five thousand debt campaigners celebrate achievements at spectacular rally marking end of Jubilee year, and leave energised to continue the struggle to end debt slavery once and for all.

2 December 2000: Campaigners welcome UK Chancellor's new announcement to cancel or hold in trust all debt repayments to Britain from 41 HIPC countries, but say that total cancellation of unpayable debt is still the primary goal (7 December 2000).

 

Following in the footsteps of the Slave Trade Abolitionists

Throughout the centuries, when people have joined forces to change society they have often, against all odds, succeeded. One of the closest parallels to the debt crisis is the Atlantic slavetrade. It, too, was a system of international oppression accepted for generations as a normal and necessary part of trade and life. And it, too, resulted in the West benefiting from the resources of the southern hemisphere while southern countries, and particularly sub-Saharan Africa, were devastated.

But in 1833 the slave trade was abolished in all British possessions. It was not because of one powerful individual or institution, but because of the concerted effort of thousands of people. People resisting slavery on plantations were backed by ordinary people in Britain. They were convinced by the uprisings and leadership of slaves and by the passion of individuals like William Wilberforce that the status quo was wrong and could be changed. Powerful people in Parliament, like Wilberforce, took up the cause, but it needed the agreement and support of thousands of ordinary people to ensure the destruction of the slave trade.

In the same way, the oppression of the debts of the poorest countries could be ended by the year 2000. Then the world could begin the new millennium with new hope for the poor, and a new start for international relations.

One major hindrance to the abolition of slavery was the powerful plantation owners in the West Indies whose interests were best served by preserving the slave trade. It gave them pervasive power in the nations from which slaves came; it gave them trading advantages and ensured that they could produce good crops and receive good prices for them.

In the same way now it is in the short-term interest of many Western nations to maintain strong influence over the poorer countries of the world. Justice demands that richer countries give up unfair privileges, held at the expense of the poor. If creditors agree to remission of debts, the removal of a restraint on growth could allow poor countries to compete on fairer terms and reduce their dependence on the rich parts of the world.

There are people in positions of power in both North and South eager to see a fairer world with debts cancelled and the balance of power between creditors and debtors altered. But the support of thousands of people in the South and North is needed to pressurise decision-makers in creditor and debtor governments into carrying through such a fundamental change. You can be one of them.

 


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