The Jubilee Campaign

How it started
In 1996 the Jubilee 2000 campaign for a one-off cancellation of unpayable debts of the poorest countries under a fair and transparent process started.

The campaign was based on the scriptural idea of the Jubilee Year – every 7 x 7 years debts are forgiven and slaves are set free. It grew from small beginnings to become an international campaign in more than 60 countries around the world.

People pressure was used to lobby the G7 leaders (UK, USA, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan) to write off the poorest countries unpayable debts.

Taking responsibility
Jubilee 2000 pointed out that many countries in the South had debts that could never be repaid. Meanwhile their people remained in abject poverty.

The campaign also argued that debt was the responsibility of both the debtor and the creditor, as much of the money loaned to heavily indebted countries was actually given specifically to repay creditors.

Furthermore the World Bank and IMF scheme of rescheduling debts under the HIPC initiative stalled, largely due to intransigence and self-interest of creditors.

Greater transparency
International debts are negotiated in secret between local elites and powerful creditors like the World Bank, IMF and government export credit agencies.

Therefore the campaign called for greater transparency in loan and debt relief negotiations to ensure that loans were not corruptly diverted. The World Bank and IMF are currently reviewing their practices in light of this demand, but critics feel that little real progress has been made.

Meanwhile the leaders of the G7 committed themselves to writing off $100 billion of the poor country debts, and debt has been pushed on to the global political agenda.

Beyond the Millennium
Jubilee Plus is the programme which has grown out of Jubilee 2000, and is part of the New Economics Foundation.

It aims to ensure that the campaign for debt relief continues, currently via fundraising for Jubilee Movement International (JMI). JMI was established at a conference held in Mali in April 2001.

Delegates from more than 50 countries - overwhelmingly from the South - gathered in Bamako where they resolved to organise themselves into a network that would campaign to end foreign debt and work for social justice.