British policy debate

Papers and comments for posting here should be sent to jhanlon@jubilee2000uk.org

• CAFOD argues that corruption should not be used as a reason to deny debt relief. It calls for tackling corruption as part of a broader strategy of poverty reduction, empowerment of poor people and creation of efficient and effective government. (November 1999)

• Oxfam International reviews decisions made at IMF/ World Bank meetings in September 1999, arguing that international pressure by Jubilee 2000 has led to a greater focus on poverty reduction, transparency, and involvement of civil society. NGOs have a responsibility to engage constructively to secure further progress. (October 1999)

• From unsustainable debt to poverty reduction: Reforming the Heavily Indebted
  Poor Countries Initiative. Oxfam report for UNICEF argues that the Cologne
  debt initiative has two core problems: the way it is financed and the
  mechanisms for strengthening the linkage between debt relief and poverty
  reduction. (August 1999)

• Christian Aid report 'Curbing corruption' argues that IMF and World Bank conditions have exarcebated corruption. It examines how debt cancellation can be used to enhance local control and democracy.

• Forever in your Debt. Christian Aid compares eight heavily indebted poor countries with the powerful Group of Eight nations (G-8), whose leaders have the power to mark the millennium with a genuinely new start for the world's poor. It outlines ethical and practical reasons why the debt crisis must be taken more seriously.

• Save the Children Fund position paper on debt notes how debt has affected children; and calls for unilateral action as part of commitment to children's rights laid out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

• Proposal for earlier and deeper debt relief for countries willing to make commitments on poverty reduction. (3 September 1998, Oxfam)

• Debt violates the fundamental principle of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. SCF calls on the UK government to follow Norway’s unilateral action and cancel all outstanding debt. (1 September 1998, SCF UK)

• Opening the debate. What do we really mean by our slogan?
  London office paper proposing an agenda and 3 sets of questions for discussion, on defining unpayability, questioning conditionality, and preventing future debt crises. (18 August 1998; London coalition office).

• Oxfam call for new improved HIPC
  Earlier and deeper debt relief with new eligibility criteria and removed IMF conditions. (July 1998)