'Life Before Debt': Jubilee 2000 Peru Campaign Jubilee 2000 Coalition

Jubilee 2000 Peru has been a key success story and inspiration for the Jubilee 2000 campaign throughout the world. A high degree of organisation and imagination have meant that the debt issue has increasingly developed into a fundamental issue for grassroots organisations in Peru. The campaign has yet to lead any reduction in debt repayments, but it has developed unprecedented social awareness of the impact of the debt burden and increasing demands for civil society to be more actively involved in government economic and social policy.

Fundamental to the success of Jubilee 2000 in Peru has been a broad and extensive popular base. In particular, the Catholic Church has been the backbone for the campaign. In a country where the Catholic faith is so firmly rooted, the Church has been able to use its considerable influence to reach out to people across the country. Their strong backing in November 1998 for the campaign led to the church joining forces with a pre-existing network of church groups and social organisations that had come together in 1994 as the Round Table on Debt and Development. This alliance became known as Jubilee 2000 Peru and ensured massive mobilisation of public support.

Jubilee 2000 Peru focused initially on getting as many people as possible to sign up for a petition under the slogan `Life Before Debt' calling for the cancellation of third world debt. The signature campaign revealed the strength of the new alliance when 1,850,000 signatures were collected within five months.

The petition collection was backed up by an extensive education campaign. With funding from Catholic organisations, the campaign produced a whole array of free educational materials including posters, print petition sheets, bumper stickers and page announcements. All of these were distributed freely to non-governmental organisations (NGOs), grassroots organisations, labour unions, local government offices, universities, schools, mother's clubs and soup kitchens nationwide. The various church commissions gave more than one hundred talks and offered workshops to instruct church coordinators in all the dioceses throughout the country.

This education campaign fuelled great public interest. The campaign organisers decided there was a vital need to maintain the momentum that had been generated. Consequently they organised regional meetings in different locations throughout Peru's geographically and culturally diverse regions. Seven locations were chosen, three cities in the Amazon jungle area, one on the northern coast, one on the central coast and one each in the central and southern altiplano. Each workshop looked at particular social and environmental problems specific to that region. For example, the issue of deforestation featured strongly in the workshops held in the Amazon jungle region, whereas in Lima, there was an emphasis on domestic violence and crime. However, broadly speaking there were common themes at each workshop, including unemployment, ecological issues, food, health, education, rural development and women's rights. The platforms drawn up at each meeting were the basis for the 6th Social Week of the Peruvian Catholic Church, held from 13 –15 October under the theme `Foreign Debt, Poverty and Development'. The three day event included 150 talks on popular participation in negotiations on international debt issues.

Romulo Torres from CEAS (a coalition member of Jubilee 2000 Peru) said: "The workshops confirmed our hypothesis that people working at the grassroots levels on development projects are the ones best equipped not only to make a social diagnostic concerning the region's needs but also to propose the sort of projects that would begin the effort to respond to these needs."

The sheer hard work has paid off. Recent research revealed that at least 40% of the population are now fully aware of the campaign . The campaign has successfully highlighted that people have no say in the negotiations through which debt has been acquired yet contribute to its repayment through taxes. People now know that cuts to social spending, so painfully obvious to poorer sectors of Peruvian society, have occurred in order to allow the government to continue servicing debt requirements.

Although the civil sector has rallied firmly behind the debt issue, campaigners have lamented the lack of dialogue with the government. The current administration has been unswerving in its adherence to an IMF-backed economic programme, paying scant regard to civil groups and organisations. Nevertheless, presidential and legislative elections in April 2000 offer a window of opportunity for voters to make their demands heard. Furthermore, should the demands for cooperation in future debt negotiations continue to fall on deaf ears, then the campaign will seek other strategies. For example, monitoring the administration of future loans granted to the government and establishing a mechanism to respond to insolvency issues.

As a country Peru is a notable example of the failure of the current provisions for debt relief under the IMF's Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. Peru's level of GDP and the size of debt does not allow it to qualify for HIPC. Nevertheless, the country suffers from a serious imbalance in wealth distribution, meaning that three out of four Peruvians live under the poverty line, and one in six in extreme poverty. These are, in all probability, conservative estimates, given that they are based on the government's own poverty definition. Within this context, while Jubilee 2000 Peru has not yet led to a drop in the country's debt burden, it has demonstrated how diverse groups, both religious and secular, can unite and form an effective and prominent voice to demand changes to Peru's debt bondage.

Home | Who we are | News | What you can do | Features | Policy | Resources | Links | Petition | Questions