British Members of Parliament launch global parliamentary link-up for Jubilee 2000

Members of the British House of Commons have announced an initiative to link parliamentarians across the world in support of Jubilee 2000's aim to cancel unpayable debt as a celebration of the new millennium. Bill Cash MP, Chairman of the All-Party Jubilee 2000 Group, launched the plan at a meeting of the group at Westminster (15 April 1999), with a goal of two MPs in every national parliament in support of the campaign.

The meeting of the group, which has 200 members from all parties in the UK parliament, welcomed guests including Janet Museveni, the wife of the Ugandan President, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Adrian Lovett, Deputy Director of Jubilee 2000 Coalition UK, and the High Commissioners from Uganda and Kenya.

Bill Cash MP, Chairman of the All-Party Group, said: “Jubilee 2000 is a people's movement around the world, and the people's representatives must be a part of it. I know many parliamentarians around the world recognise this is a truly meaningful way to mark the millennium. We want to harness that strength in the coming months to give this movement the extra push it needs to win.”

Chief Anyaoku paid tribute to the Jubilee 2000 campaign, which he said had been very successful in raising awareness of the debt crisis and exerting pressure on the creditor countries. He commented that the recent personal paper by Jubilee 2000 Director Ann Pettifor, Concordats for Debt Cancellation, was a 'fascinating contribution' to the debate on how to regulate the process of debt cancellation. He called for a comprehensive reform of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, and said that debt relief needed to be both deepened and widened. It should also be delivered in no more than three years, as opposed to the current policy of six years. He added that some countries, including Mozambique and Sierra Leone, needed complete and immediate write-off of their external debt, and said that the IMF needed to be much more forthcoming on debt relief.

Adrian Lovett, Deputy Director of Jubilee 2000 Coalition, said: “Jubilee 2000 has received tremendous support from British MPs and we're delighted with the plan to link up internationally like this. The need is real and urgent. The debts of the poorest countries continue to rise, despite the wide public support for debt cancellation. We need a huge burst of pressure as the world's leaders prepare for the Cologne G8 summit in June.”

Adrian Lovett said the latest report from the World Bank showed that in 1998 developing countries paid back thirteen times more in debt service than they received in grants. He said that the net transfer from the Sub-Saharan Africa to the IMF amounted to more than $1 billion in 1997 and 1998, at a time when the IMF was arranging and partially funding bail-outs in Asia and elsewhere. He thanked the British parliamentarians for their continued support for the campaign, and urged continuing and increased efforts to ensure that creditors agreed to substantial debt cancellation to mark the millennium.