Little Success For "Jubilee" Campaign So Far

by Samanta Sen

The Jubilee Debt Campaign (JDC), which has been continuing the work of the Jubilee 2000 campaign, notes that "only a fraction of the debt relief needed to give the world's poor a new start has been promised, let alone delivered."

The new campaign for 2002 "has been designed to coincide with the year of the golden jubilee celebrations of the reign of Queen Elizabeth," Ashok Sinha from the JDC told IPS.

The theme for the campaign will be: "Still Waiting for the Jubilee."

More than one billion people living in the world's poorest countries are still desperately in need of debt relief, Sinha said. "This is the year of the Queen's golden jubilee but the world's poor are still waiting for their promised jubilee."

The new campaigners are working out "a series of events through the course of the year to draw attention to this debt burden," Sinha said. Occasions where the Queen will be in attendance will be especially targeted. Among these will be the Commonwealth Games and a series of royal exhibitions at Buckingham Palace and other locations.

The campaign kicked off on New Year's Day with a stark poster campaign noting that only 15 percent of the unpayable debt of the world's poor has been cancelled. The posters will go up in churches, community centers, libraries, and offices.

"We have a great deal more than just posters in mind," Sinha said. "And we will keep up this campaign until we see some significant movement forward."

JDC members are also campaigning to mobilize members of Parliament. The MPs are being asked to declare their position on the issue, and those who support the JDC will be asked to raise its concerns in Parliament.

The campaign has won considerable NGO backing. The earlier Jubilee 2000 was a coalition of about 50 national organizations and 60 local and regional groups in Britain. Many of those organizations are now backing the JDC. Tearfund and the World Development Movement are administering the new campaign.

The JDC is looking to attract celebrities and academic and political figures. The campaign has won the support of European Parliament member Glenys Kinnock, Colin Lucas, vice-chancellor of Oxford University, and some editors and religious leaders.

The JDC is taking on what it acknowledges is a huge challenge. Fifty-two of the world's poorest countries owe more than $300 billion to their wealthy counterparts. Only about $18 billion of this has been cancelled so far.

Another $54 billion cancellation is in the works, but so far it amounts to just 5 percent of the poor countries' debt. If all of the planned cancellations are carried out, they would still only slice another 15 percent off the debt.

Campaigners are now holding countries to the target of halving extreme poverty around the world by the year 2015, although few expect that target to be met either.

"We keep getting told that the debt problem has been dealt with, but the goal of halving extreme poverty by 2015 will be no more than a cruel joke on the poor if more debt is not cancelled," says Stephen Rand of Tearfund, and Chair of JDC.

Campaigners fear reversals on debt cancellation in view of the difficult economic climate. "Economic developments since Sep. 11 make this even more apparent," says Rand.

Despite the difficult situation, the campaign is not looking for compromises. The JDC is calling for 100 percent cancellation of the unpayable debt of the world's poorest countries by transparent means, with refinancing from the international financial institutions.

"As we enter the third year of the new millennium, many desperately poor countries are still spending more on debt repayments to the richest than they do on health and education," says Beverley Duckworth of the World Development Movement. In many countries the debts are rising instead of being reduced.

"The continuing debt crisis shames rich governments," says Duckworth. "Claims to be friends of the world's poor mean nothing while the debt remains, and until it goes away, neither will we."