wfn.org | CWS Pin for Jubilee 2000 Campaign

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org (CAROL FOUKE)]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2227
Email: news@ncccusa.org  Web: www.ncccusa.org

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Church World Service is releasing a "Break the Chains of 
Debt" lapel chain in support of the Jubilee 2000/USA 
Campaign, which challenges rich nations to cancel the 
unpayable debt owed by the most impoverished countries.  The 
lapel chains can be ordered for $2.50 each, with bulk 
discounts available, from Church World Service, 28606 
Phillips St., P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515, specify #ED 
9920.  Orders of $10 or more can be called in to 800-297-
1516 ext. 222.  Ordering information is also available 
through the CWS Web site at www.churchworldservice.org .
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72NCC6/15/99 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CWS RELEASES LAPEL PIN TO SUPPORT JUBILEE 2000 DEBT RELIEF 
CAMPAIGN

 NEW YORK, June 15 ---- Church World Service's release 
of a lapel chain and brochure in support of the Jubilee 2000 
debt reduction campaign comes during a crucial week for the 
international campaign - the week leading up to the last G8 
meeting this millennium - and as an important national 
hearing in the House Banking Committee takes up 
international debt issues today.

 "The Jubilee 2000 Campaign is gaining momentum, with 
the Jubilee 2000 petition now standing at over 12 million 
and growing," said the Rev. Dr. Rodney Page, CWS Executive 
Director. "It is backed by religious and moral leaders 
including the Pope, the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Muhammad 
Ali, Kofi Annan and Rev. Jesse Jackson, as well as by pop 
and film stars including Sir Anthony Hopkins, Bono, Lauryn 
Hill and Stevie Wonder.  This week is a big week for shows 
of solidarity with the G8 Summit in Cologne, Germany on June 
19.  The G8 meeting is a great opportunity for world leaders 
to announce a breakthrough."

 Celebrities and supporters will surround the G8 Summit 
in Cologne with a human chain of 50,000 people.  There will 
also be human chains in the United States this week, 
including one around the Treasury Building in Washington, 
D.C. on Friday, June 18.  50,000 people formed a human chain 
around the Thames in London on June 13.

CWS Sees Firsthand Effects of Debt Burden

 Church World Service is the human development, 
emergency relief and refugee assistance ministry of the 
National Council of Churches (NCC), working in more than 80 
countries around the world.  "In our work, from Africa to 
Latin America, we have seen firsthand the effects of 
international debt on ordinary people, especially children," 
Dr. Page said.  "We support Jubilee 2000 as a call of 
compassion for those people living in poor, highly indebted 
countries.  Big money loaned to their governments never 
benefited them in the first place and yet the burden of debt 
deepens their suffering.  According to the United Nations, 
debt cancellation could save the lives of seven million 
children each year."

The NCC is one of thousands of organizations in over 60 
countries that have joined the Jubilee 2000 Coalition in 
calling upon world leaders to celebrate the millennium by 
canceling the unpayable debts of the world's poorest 
countries by the end of the year 2000.  "As an agency that 
is part of the Jubilee 2000 coalition, we are proud to be 
the distributor of this lapel chain and brochure," said Dr. 
Page.  "The pin will help to bring public attention to the 
campaign by making it possible for people to make a public 
statement.  It symbolizes both the problem and the solution, 
the suffering and the hope.  The brochure gives important 
facts and contact information for elected officials, and 
contains detachable postcards to President Clinton and CWS."

 The lapel pin spells out 2000 with the number "2" plus 
three links of chain hanging from it - symbolizing the 
chains of debt owed by African, Asian and Latin American 
nations that spend four times more on paying their debts 
than on education, health and nutrition.  "The chain is also 
an important symbol for the common cause this movement has 
brought about, with people all over the world forming human 
chains in support of the campaign," Dr. Page said.

 "This lapel pin symbolizes the solidarity we in the 
Jubilee 2000 movement feel with impoverished peoples around 
the world who want the burden of unpayable foreign debt 
lifted off their backs," said Carole Collins, National 
Coordinator of Jubilee 2000/USA.  "It's a unique kind of 
fashion statement, one for economic justice.  Everyone who 
wears this pin - from rock stars to public officials to 
ordinary citizens moved by the plight of people in highly 
indebted countries - is telling our policymakers to cancel 
the crushing debt of poor countries, to allow a fresh start 
for the world's poor by the new millennium.  This would free 
up significant resources to reduce poverty as well as reduce 
the economic pressures that lead to exploiting the 
environment."

Dr. Page has sent a letter with a sample pin and 
brochure going to 1,200 denominational and ecumenical 
organizations encouraging church leaders to promote the pin 
and educational materials.  Additionally, the pins will be 
distributed at denominational and ecumenical events this 
summer including Bread for the World's National Gathering in 
Washington, D.C., the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Assembly 
in Fort Worth, Tex., the United Church of Christ General 
Conference in Providence, R.I. and the Evangelical Lutheran 
Church in America Synod Hunger Event in Chicago, Ill.

Debt Cancellation Makes Moral and Economic Sense

"Church World Service and many denominations in the 
United States have banded together with people of faith all 
across the world in the Jubilee 2000 Campaign, based on the 
biblical call to celebrate the jubilee every 50 years - 
forgiving debts, freeing slaves and returning land to the 
landless (Leviticus 25:11)," Dr. Page said.

 "Debt cancellation is a moral issue, but also makes 
good economic sense," he explained.  "Unrepayable debt can 
inflame social conflicts, requiring costly humanitarian 
interventions.  It also encourages poor countries to use 
cheap but environmentally harmful ways to earn export 
revenues.  Moreover, heavily indebted countries generally 
are not good customers for U.S. products or investment, 
since they cannot develop healthy economies if millions of 
their people can barely survive."

Among the facts CWS cites in the brochure in support of 
Jubilee 2000 are:
- Sub-Saharan African governments owe foreign creditors an 
average of almost $400 for every man, woman and child - more 
than most Africans make in a year. (World Bank)
- In 1997, before Hurricane Mitch, Nicaragua spent more than 
half its budget on debt repayment. (OXFAM)
- In Mozambique, one of four children dies before age five 
due to infectious disease, yet the government spends four 
times more on debt servicing than on health care.

 The postcard to President Clinton affirms his proposals 
for debt relief and urges him to expand this initiative.  
The postcard to Church World Service enables people to order 
a free copy of the fact sheet "Africa: In Bondage to Debt", 
order additional Jubilee 2000 lapel chains, and learn about 
the CWS Tools of Hope program.

 Lapel chains can be ordered for $2.50 each, with bulk 
discounts available, from Church World Service, 28606 
Phillips St., P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515.  Orders of 
$10 or more can be called in to 800-297-1516, ext. 222.  
Ordering information is also available through the CWS Web 
site at www.churchworldservice.org .

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