Debt of 33 Poor Nations Could be Cancelled

[Zan_of_Texas]

This is good news!

This could be a ray of hope, especially in Africa, where the financial and human proportions of the AIDS epidemic are unbelievably stark. There are 12 million orphans in Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa has 10 percent of the world's population but is home to 70 percent of all HIV/AIDS infected people; nearly 60 percent of those are women. Some 29 million Africans are suffering from AIDS, almost as many people as the entire population of Canada (32 million). The nations of Africa spend $15 billion a year paying back wealthy creditors, far more than is available for health care or health education. Last year, the number of Sub-Saharan Africans living on $1 a day or less increased, approaching an even half of the entire population.


According to a friend, he says the possibility IS very real that the G7 nations could approve this -- the US wants it because Bush wants Iraq's debts to be cancelled.

My friend says: "call the White House and leave a message saying how
much you favor U.S. leadership on this, and that you hope we will push the measure through the G-7 meeting. The comment line number 202.456.1111." It's a rare opportunity to agree with the White House on something.

Canadian DUers -- contact YOUR government too!


Richest Nations May Drop Debt of 33 Poorest

Jim Lobe
Inter Press Service
http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=25570

WASHINGTON, Sep 22 (IPS)

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that have been campaigning for years to write off tens of billions of dollars in debt owed by poor countries to international financial institutions (IFIs) say their dream may soon be realised, perhaps as soon as just nine days from now. That's when the finance ministers of the Group of Seven (G-7), the world's wealthiest governments, will meet to decide whether to back a joint British-U.S. proposal to cancel all of the debt owed by 33 of the world's poorest nations to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and regional multilateral development banks.

<snip>

Even some IFI officials now concede that the debt relief provided by HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative) has been inadequate, particularly in light of the HIV/AIDS crisis in sub-Saharan Africa, which has not only overwhelmed local health systems, but has dragged down economic growth, in turn making it much harder for countries to repay the debt they owe.

”These debts are fundamentally illegitimate,” according to Salih Booker, executive director of Africa Action, a grassroots group that led the anti-apartheid campaign in the U.S. during the 1970s and 1980s. ”They undermine African efforts to address HIV/AIDS and other challenges, and they should have been canceled a long time ago.”

”There is an explicit and intimate linkage between debt and death (in poor countries),” noted Holly Burkhalter, PHR's Washington director, who released a letter from 150 doctors around the world calling for total debt cancellation. She said the debt was wreaking havoc on already overstretched health systems.

<snip>

[Ducks In A Row]

1. I want my debt cancelled

why should it just be for nations.

boo-hoo

[tuvor]

2. How do they determine the poorest nations?

Is it the amount of national debt, or the amount of national debt per person?

Just wondering.