Nobel Peace Laureates call for debt cancellation

Nobel Peace Prize winners gathering in Rome to discuss peace have issued a public call for urgent debt cancellation. Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev led the appeal, in a public statement on 13^th November, the last day of the Summit held in Rome. "Nothing is more important than the debt question....It is absolutely necessary to resolve the problem as soon as possible. We cannot keep waiting," he said.

The Nobel Peace Laureates unanimously agreed that peace and development are irrevocably linked, and therefore it is imperative to work on both. Many condemned the way that the debt burden had exacerbated poverty and increased the likelihood of instability and conflict. Gorbachev spoke for many when he said: "Without development there can be no peace. Instability comes from economic difficulty and backwardness." The Nobel winners went onto call for a new approach to politics -- with people and morals listened to as well as politicians and economics.

The Nobel Peace Prize winners emphasis on the need for debt cancellation, indicates the ever growing global support for the Jubilee 2000 campaign, and growing signs of dissatisfaction with the inadequate debt relief that has been granted so far.