Jubilee Debt Campaign UK : Drop ALL the debt : A new way of dealing with debt

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A new way of dealing with debt

There needs to be much more debt cancellation, much more quickly. The current debt relief schemes have run out of steam and we need a new system to include more countries and more debts. Please ask the UK government to support a new way of dealing with debt.

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So far the debt campaign has been successful in securing the cancellation of almost $90 billion in debt through internationally agreed schemes. But these schemes are not working. Billions of dollars of debts, for dozens of countries, are not covered by the current cancellation criteria.

They don’t address the responsibility of the creditors, whose bad lending has led to huge levels of illegitimate debt. This means that there is no way to punish reckless lending and change lenders’ behaviour in the future. A new process, along the lines of a Debt Tribunal, would provide a fair, comprehensive solution to the debt crisis.

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A major international conference, is meeting in Doha, Qatar, at the end of November, to review progress in financing development, including in tackling the debt crisis. Please ask the UK government to support efforts at Doha for a new system to deal with debts.

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Dear Secretary of State, I am writing to urge you to support a new sovereign debt resolution mechanism at the UN Finance for Development conference in Doha in November. As we deal with the current crisis in our financial markets, I believe it is important to remind you that many developing countries have been facing their own financial crisis for more than three decades. Unlike today's crisis, however, there has been no instant bailout for the world's poor. Instead, it has taken ten years of determined campaigning to get only a small proportion of unpayable debts cancelled. Yet the current international debt relief schemes, like the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative, are too limited and too creditor-controlled to deliver a lasting solution to the debt crisis, and they have now run out of steam. Developing countries urgently need a new way of dealing with debt which brings much wider debt cancellation, and includes a recognition of creditors' shared responsibility for past debts. A fairer framework for international lending and debt cancellation is also essential if we are to ensure that unsustainable debt burdens don't continue to build up in the future. At the Doha conference the international community is revisiting its commitments on finance for development made in the Monterrey Consensus in 2002. I would like the UK to speak up for the creation of a new, fair and transparent system for resolving sovereign debts, in order to radically speed up debt cancellation and correct the significant power imbalance in the current process. Please make the most of this opportunity to push for a new way of dealing with debt. Yours sincerely,

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A new way of dealing with debt briefing
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