wfn.org | Debt Relief Bill Signed; ELCA, Other Churches Play Significant Role

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 10, 2000

DEBT RELIEF BILL SIGNED; ELCA, OTHER CHURCHES PLAY SIGNIFICANT ROLE
00-272-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- President Clinton signed into law Nov. 6 a
bill that provides $435 million to cancel international debts of as
many as 33 of the world's most impoverished countries.  Many churches
and related organizations -- including the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America (ELCA) -- were part of an effort to secure the funds
through the U.S. Congress.  The U.S. campaign is called, "Jubilee
2000/USA."
     The $435 million was included in a $14.9 billion foreign aid
bill.  The debt relief portion of the bill also authorized the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) to release $800 million from the
sale of its gold for multilateral debt relief, according to the
Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs (LOGA), the ELCA's federal
public policy agency based in Washington, D.C.
     "By fully funding our commitment to debt relief, the bill
supports this historic effort to give these poorest countries a
critical opportunity to effect  reform while using funds to reduce
poverty and provide basic health care and education for their
people," Clinton said.
      "By lifting the weakest, poorest among us, we lift all the
rest of us as well," he added. Clinton was joined in a White House
East Room ceremony by a large group of religious leaders,
representatives of non-governmental organizations and labor unions,
advocates for Africa and members of Congress.
       "I expect that many people of faith now celebrating the victory
of the Jubilee campaign will be pointing to it for years to come,"
said the Rev. Mark B. Brown, assistant director for international
affairs and human rights, LOGA.  "As we face the next challenges on
Capitol Hill, particularly securing sufficient funding for reducing
hunger, canceling debt and combating HIV/AIDS in Africa, this victory
will serve as an enduring witness to the power of prayer and the
importance of informed advocacy and effective coalition building."
       The Rev. David M. Beckmann, an ELCA pastor and president of
Bread for the World, said the legislation may signal other
possibilities.  Bread for the World, Washington, D.C., lobbies
elected officials on behalf of hungry people worldwide and is a
Jubilee 2000 advocate.
       "If we can win a sustained shift in our government's
priorities, I think we would cut world hunger and poverty in half by
2015," he told the Associated Press.  "Wouldn't that be a great day
of jubilee?"
       The Jubilee campaign is based on biblical passages in Leviticus
which call for a "Year of Jubilee" every 50 years to eliminate debts
and proclaim liberty to all inhabitants.  Among those credited with
the idea to cancel debts of the world's poorest nations are Pope John
Paul II and former Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa.
       Since 1997, the ELCA has supported Jubilee 2000.  Voting
members at the 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a
resolution supporting international debt relief.  That resolution
also affirmed concern for the alleviation of poverty and hunger in
poor nations and initiatives that "sustain the earth."  The ELCA's
social statement on economic life, "Sufficient, Sustainable
Livelihood for All," adopted in 1999, specifically expressed support
for international debt relief.
       The ELCA worked through LOGA to support debt-relief
legislation. Lutheran World Relief (LWR) and several other religious
denominations and organizations supported Jubilee 2000.  LWR is the
overseas relief and development ministry of the ELCA and The Lutheran
Church--Missouri Synod.
       On April 9, an estimated 6,000 people representing many
denominations took part in a Jubilee 2000 Rally for Debt Relief  in
Washington, D.C.   The ELCA was a rally organizer and sponsor.  The
following day as many as 1,000 people, most of them rally
participants, met with members of Congress to push for support of
debt relief legislation.
       The signing of the bill with funds designated for debt relief
doesn't end the work of the advocates, Brown said.
       "We will need to come back to Congress next year to ask for
$375 million needed over two years to fulfill the $920 million pledge
President Clinton made at the G7 economic summit in Cologne in1999,"
he said. The $375 million, along with funds allocated last year for
debt relief and this week's $435 million allocation, "helps to
leverage more than $28 billion globally for debt relief for 33
eligible countries, Brown added.
___
  More information on Jubilee2000 is available at
http://www.loga.org on LOGA's Web site.

  Images from the Nov. 6 signing will be available on the Web
next week.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html