wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Cancel Haiti's foreign debt, says WCC

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches - News Release

Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 25/01/2010 17:50:48

WCC CALLS FOR HAITI'S FOREIGN DEBT TO BE CANCELLED

The World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr
Olav Fykse Tveit has called on the international community to
cancel Haiti's foreign debt. 

An "immediate and full cancellation" of Haiti's foreign debt
would be "only an initial step", as the quake-stricken country
needs a broader "plan to support recovery, poverty eradication
and sustainable development", Tveit said in a statement on 25
January. 

Such a plan "must be developed with the full ownership of the
people of Haiti and with the support of the international
community under the coordination of the United Nations", Tveit
said. 

In addition to debt cancellation and short-term emergency
relief, Haiti needs "reconstruction and sustainable development
in the medium and long term." But "any financial assistance
should come in the shape of grants, not loans that would burden
the country with more debt", the WCC statement says. 

Tveit's statement coincided with a one-day conference hosted by
the Canadian government to discuss Haiti's reconstruction.
Foreign ministers from more than a dozen countries, notably the
United States and France, along with eight international bodies
including banks and six major non-governmental organizations
attended the gathering in Montreal. A broader conference on
Haiti's long-term reconstruction is expected in the coming
months.

Tveit intends to bring the message that Haiti's recovery needs
to be based on "a genuine spirit of justice and caring" to the
meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which
he is attending this week. The forum has set aside a time to
discuss the situation in Haiti.

Haiti, the most impoverished nation in the western hemisphere,
is also a heavily indebted country. In spite of having had some
1.2 billion US dollars of foreign debt written off last June by
international financial institutions, the country still owes some
641 million US dollars to multilateral banks and countries. This
year Haiti is scheduled to pay some 10 million US dollars to the
International Monetary Fund.

"The bulk of the debt accumulated by Haiti is patently onerous
and odious", said Tveit, as more than half of it "stemmed from
loans extended to the brutal father-son dictatorship of Francois
(‘Papa Doc’) and Jean-Claude Duvalier", and "did not benefit
the people of Haiti". 

"Obliging Haiti to make debt payments at the expense of health
care, education and other critical social programmes is
illegitimate. Exacting payment during this time of incredible
hardship and destruction is morally untenable", said Tveit. 

"Justice and care: the situation in Haiti demands nothing less",
he concluded. 

>Full text of the WCC statement on Haiti:
>http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=7517

WCC member churches in Haiti and ecumenical response:
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/caribbean/haiti.html

More information about the ecumenical response through ACT
Alliance 
http://www.act-intl.org

Background information on Haiti's foreign debt
http://www.jubileeusa.org/jubilee-act/haiti-debt-cancellation-resolution/resources-on-haitis-debt.html

Additional information: Juan Michel +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507
6363 media@wcc-coe.org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith,
witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical
fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings
together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches
representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110
countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic
Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit,
from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva,
Switzerland.