wfn.org | Activists form human chain to urge debt relief for poor countries

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

June 22, 1999	News media contact: Thomas S.
McAnally*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.    10-31-32-71BP{343}

NOTE:  A photograph is available for use with this story.

By Shanta M. Bryant*
 
WASHINGTON (UMNS) --  Leaders of  the world's seven wealthiest countries
announced June 18 a $1 billion plan to cancel the debt burden of poor
countries, the same day some 400 activists, including United Methodists,
encircled the U.S. Treasury Building in a human chain to urge the Clinton
administration to forgive debts owed to the United States.

During the G-7 Summit in Cologne, Germany, leaders of  the United States,
Canada, Japan, Britain, Germany, France and Italy revealed  a plan that may
cancel between $70 and $90 billion in debts owed by more than 30 poor
countries to creditor countries and international financial institutions.
The Cologne Initiative would provide a reduction of up to 70 percent of the
total debts for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs).

The initiative's objective is to provide a greater focus on poverty
reduction by canceling some of the debt to allow indebted countries to
invest in health, education and social services, such as AIDS prevention and
child survival.  An estimated 430 million people will be affected.

Mark Harrison, program director for economic justice at the United Methodist
Board of Church and Society, said the plan is a good first step, but it
doesn't go far enough. He explained that the G-7's initiative would help
some poor countries, but in countries with substantial debts, such as
Mozambique, the debt repayment will still consume  billions of dollars of
the national budget. Under the initiative, Mozambique's debt payment will be
reduced from 30 percent to 15 percent.  "We believe it should go a step
further and cancel the entire debt for certain countries," he said.

Carole Collins, national coordinator of Jubilee 2000/USA agreed. "Most poor
countries will still pay more on debt service than on health or education,"
she said. "We urge the leaders not to think that their work is done.
Instead, they must step up the pace. The lives and futures of the poor in
Africa, Asia and Latin America cannot wait."
 
The Cologne Initiative, activists believe, was a direct result of intense
pressure from the Jubilee 2000 campaign, a worldwide movement urging debt
cancellation to poor countries. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, on
behalf of the G-7 leaders,  received 17 million petition signatures from the
global Jubilee 2000 movement. The United Methodist Board of Church and
Society and the Women's Division of the church's  Board of Global Ministries
are members of the Jubilee 2000/USA's Steering Committee. 

Several United Methodist annual conferences and the United Methodist Student
Movement  have adopted resolutions supporting the Jubilee 2000/USA campaign.

At the Washington human chain, activists sang "Go Down, Moses," and grasped
hands around the block-long Treasury Building, located in the shadow of the
White House. Sponsored by Jubilee 2000/USA, simultaneous human chains took
place in Louisville, Ky., and San Francisco. 

Outside the G-7 summit venue in Germany, more than 50,000 activists from
some 60 countries participated in another human chain. Jubilee 2000
organizers estimated that one million activists worldwide participated in
similar efforts to raise awareness and build international political
pressure on the issue. 

Marti Zimmerman, pastor of Smokey Hill United Methodist Church in Denver,
brought her three children to the Washington rally to highlight the
injustice of poor people being forced to pay off government loans. "When
government officials in these countries make big loans, they are not the
ones to pay off the debt; it's the poor," said Zimmerman.

Large debt repayment directly affects women and children, according to L.J.
Hopkins, executive secretary for economic justice for the Women's Division.
"Children suffer because they may have to give up their education to work
and women will work in the lowest paying jobs," said Hopkins, noting how the
debt burden influences the national economy.

"For United Methodist women, our purpose is to be in solidarity with
oppressed people around the world," Hopkins said. "The ideals of Jubilee
2000 coincide with the purpose of United Methodist Women and we have long
been involved with coalitions involving debt cancellation."

Andrew Schleicher, a member of Denton Faith United Methodist Church,
Belleville, Mich., said the United States has a responsibility to take the
lead in implementing faster and deeper debt cancellations. 

"The United States is the wealthiest nation in the world and is in a
position to have a voice and vote in the International Monetary Fund and
World Bank.  If the United States wants to take a stand on debt relief and
make an impact; they can make it happen," said Schleicher, who is working in
Washington on a one-year assignment at Sojourner magazine.

Poor countries are servicing the international debt at the cost of people's
lives, emphasized Andres Thomas Conteris, a United Methodist missionary, who
has been living and working in Honduras. "This is blatantly visible in the
aftermath of the worst disaster in Central America in this century  --
Hurricane Mitch," said Conteris, now based in Washington.  "The
international financial institutions were looking for ways to reconstruct
these countries, while imposing a million dollar a day fine to pay for debt
interest payment."

"Now is a kairos moment, since it's the end of the millennium, to call for
an absolute jubilee on the debt," Conteris said. "For people of faith, this
is a justice issue we can no longer ignore."

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*Bryant is the program director of communications for the United Methodist
Board of Church and Society and associate editor of the agency's Christian
Social Action magazine.

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