Debt Cancellation
In order to protect developing countries from being taken advantage of by financial predators, ONE UK is urging their members to call on UK courts to extend the vulture law to the island of Jersey. In this blog post, ONE UK campaigner Claire Hazelgrove explains why vulture funds are just plain wrong.
Campaigners like you have fought against the unfair debts that crippled some of the world’s poorest countries. We rightly celebrated when debt relief helped lift some of this burden.
Now that progress is under threat.
Vulture funds make money by buying up old debt against developing countries, and using the courts to sue them for it in order to reap massive profits. That’s just wrong.
The problem is, that while the vulture funds law brought in the UK last year finally stopped this activity happening here, this doesn’t currently extend to Jersey.
Sign up now to ask the Chief Minister of Jersey to extend the UK law to their courts too.
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The first week since the announcement of the Sudanese referendum result hasn’t been as triumphant as many people were hoping it would be. In fact South Sudan’s celebrations, which begun after last Monday’s announcement, have been short-lived.
This last week has seen the murder of the South’s Co-operatives and Rural Development Minister Jimmy Lemi Milla in what is thought to be a personal rather than political dispute. In addition, clashes flared up again in the South’s Jonglei state between forces loyal to George Athor (a rogue rebel leader in the south) and South Sudan’s army. Mr. Athor previously took up arms last year, alleging fraud in state elections, but he signed a ceasefire last month just before the referendum vote. However last Wednesday fighting in the region resumed, with more than 100 people reportedly killed, of which 39 are thought to be civilians.
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If you’re curious to learn more about the Sudan vote and what that might mean for the fate of the country, we encourage you to listen to Center for Global Development Fellow Ben Leo’s podcast on Sudan’s debt. The $35 billion external debt is a critical issue in the upcoming referendum — if oil-rich Southern Sudan becomes independent, Northern Sudan will lose access to the region’s resources and become unable to use the oil revenue to pay back their debts.
Mr. Leo, an expert on debt sustainability in low-income countries, outlines a few potential scenarios for post-referendum debt division between North and South Sudan. Listen to his podcast on the Center for Global Development website.
I attended the official “signing ceremony” today canceling Haiti’s debt to the InterAmerican Development Bank– Haiti’s largest creditor. With a few pen strokes, around $450 million was wiped off the books, allowing Haiti to focus its money on rebuilding, not repaying old loans.
One of the US Treasury’s top officials gave ONE a nice shout out from stage for all we did to make this day possible.
It was only 9 months ago when the 7.0 earthquake devastated Haiti. Rebuilding continues slowly. But debt cancellation is nearly complete. Nine months is like a nanosecond in debt relief terms. We should all be proud of helping make this happen.
Last night Congress voted to keep America’s commitment to Haiti by delivering promised funding that will assist with Haiti’s reconstruction and debt relief. The bill– which thousands of ONE members called on their elected officials to support– cleared when the House passed the measure on a 308 to 114 vote.
Here are some details about what’s included in this bill (HR 4899). It includes $2.8 billion in funding to support critical relief and recovery efforts in Haiti. Specifically, the bill provides $913 million in international security funding and economic assistance for humanitarian relief, reconstruction, law enforcement and peacekeeping initiatives. The bill also includes $465 million for International Disaster Assistance to respond to humanitarian emergencies and funding to cancel existing debts owed by Haiti– which was the focus of ONE’s effort. The bill also supports U.S. Treasury Department programs to strengthen the country’s financial systems and $96.5 million for increased peacekeeping assessments for the U.N. mission in Haiti.
This was a major victory for the people of Haiti. Great job ONE TEAM!
In January, an enormous earthquake hit Haiti—the worst of its kind in more than 200 years. The effects were devastating and took nearly 250,000 lives—but people everywhere jumped in to help. Doctors hopped onto planes; students took breaks from school; and kids donated their allowances.
To help with recovery efforts, more than 200,000 ONE members joined our successful campaign to erase Haiti’s one billion dollars in debt. It was a huge victory for Haiti and a proud moment for ONE. And I’m writing to you today because ONE members can make a big difference in Haiti once again.
Two months after the quake, our president pledged to give more than one billion dollars to Haiti for long-term rebuilding. But Congress still needs to pass the bill that contains this critical funding. Will you join us in asking Congress to follow through on America’s commitment to Haiti?
Ask Congress today to quickly pass the bill with long-term funding for Haiti:
Our petition reads:
Dear Senator,
Six months after Haiti’s devastating earthquake, please support quick passage of US assistance to Haiti for reconstruction and debt relief.
Thanks to the heroic work of the Haitian people, tireless volunteers and NGOs, the small island nation has made it through six hard months. But as the country fades from the headlines, we need to remember that the streets are still filled with rubble; families are still sleeping in tents; and people still need jobs.
The people of Haiti deserve much more than the bare necessities of day-to-day survival. They deserve to thrive—to rebuild better and stronger than before.
We promised that they wouldn’t have to do this alone.
And that’s why this funding from the US is so critical. While the work will be hard and the rebuilding time-consuming, this funding will help the country start to recover—by reconstructing homes to protect people from hurricanes and other natural disasters and building schools and hospitals to educate girls and help mothers deliver babies in a clean, safe space.
Will you let Congress know that we must pass the bill for Haiti now?
Let’s join together again and show the people of Haiti that we haven’t forgotten about them. Let’s show Haiti that we’re ready to help for the long-term.
Officials from Australia, Indonesia and the Global Fund just announced an agreement that will boost support to Indonesia’s tuberculosis control programs.
The Debt2Health agreement helps redirect money from servicing debt to improving public health. Australia will cancel AUD$75 million of Indonesia’s debt and Indonesia will put half of this amount into national programs to fight tuberculosis through the Global Fund. These additional resources will be particularly useful as Indonesia has the world’s third highest rate of tuberculosis.
Executive Director of the Global Fund, Michel Kazatchkine commended this Debt2Health agreement, saying:
In order to reach and sustain the level of funding we need in the fight against the most deadly epidemics of our time, we must make use of innovative financing opportunities like Debt2Health. We are delighted that Australia has joined the initiative and are very grateful for the trust that it shows in our work.
Over the years, ONE has worked on ensuring debt relief for the poorest countries and finding innovative sources of financing for health, so it is very good news indeed to see them coming together in this Debt2Health agreement for the benefit of Indonesians.
