[stop-imf] Outrage at G8 Failure on Debt

[Robert Weissman]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 10, 2004

US Movement for Debt Cancellation Outraged by
G-8 Failure on Debt

Failure to Act on 100% Debt Cancellation a
Tragedy, Will Cost Lives

SAVANNAH, Ga.  -Jubilee USA Network and the 50 Years Is
Enough Network expressed disappointment this afternoon at
the failure of the G-8 leaders to take decisive action by
committing to support 100% multilateral debt cancellation
for impoverished nations.

Over the past several days press reports had indicated
that UK Prime Minister Tony Blair had put forth a proposal
for 100% debt cancellation for poor countries. This
afternoon, however, the leaders of the Group of Eight
wealthy nations instead announced a meager extension of
the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative
instead of a definitive commitment for full cancellation.

  "At this critical moment, when every minute another
African child dies of AIDS, the global community needs
100% cancellation of multilateral debt without harmful
conditions," said Marie Clarke, National Coordinator of
the Jubilee USA Network. "By failing to seize the
opportunity, the G-8 has once again chosen baby steps over
bold action."

HIPC, even by IMF and World Bank standards, has failed to
provide an exit from the debt crisis. After eight years of
the HIPC program, two things are clear: when countries
have more access to their own resources they use them
well, but HIPC has been too little relief, too slow, for
too few countries and with too many conditions.

"Indebted countries need 100% debt cancellation without
deadly conditions on the occasion of the IMF and World
Bank's 60th Anniversary year, "said Njoki Njehu, Director
of the 50 Years is Enough Network. "Cancellation of
impoverished country debt by the IMF and World Bank must
be financed through their own resources."

Bi-partisan legislation calling for the IMF to cancel 100%
of the debts of 50 nations without harmful conditions has
been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The
JUBILEE Act, HR 4511, will legislate what the G-8 has
failed to propose.

Jubilee USA Network, the 50 Years Is Enough Network, and
the broader debt cancellation movement will turn up the
heat on global leaders and the multilateral creditors in
the coming months. "President Bush and the G-8 might have
found it hot in Georgia in June, but we will turn up the
heat even more in this election year on the issue of debt
cancellation. We will be bringing our calls for 100%
cancellation to  pulpits throughout the country, to the
halls of Congress with the JUBILEE Act, and to the
streets," said Clarke.

Earlier this week, Jubilee USA Network released a letter
signed by more than 250 religious leaders, including Jesse
Jackson and leaders of Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish
denominations calling for 100% cancellation of the debts
of impoverished nations without harmful conditions in
light of the AIDS crisis.
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