Pick Up the Pace

Jubilee Debt Campaign's new Pick Up the Pace campaign is calling for further, faster debt cancellation for the world's poorest countries.

Nearly ten years after the Birmingham G8 summit in 1998, when world leaders promised to drop the debt, debt relief is coming too slowly, and is too limited, for millions of people living in poverty.

In the past decade the debt campaign has made substantial progress on the journey to justice. But our job is not done - only 20% of the debt has so far been dropped.

Many poor countries are still paying more in debts than they spend on health, education and other essential services.

So far some $88 billion in debt has been cancelled for 25 poor countries through the international schemes for indebted poor countries.

But for all governments to be able to meet their people’s basic needs, over $400 billion of debts must be cancelled, with at least some debt cancellation for around 100 countries.

Further and faster
The UK has taken the lead in the past, but further and faster debt cancellation is urgently needed. We are calling on the Government to cancel all unpayable and unjust debts owed to it.

This must include debts that arose from government-backed commercial loans, known as export credit debts. Other rich countries, companies, and institutions like the World Bank, must also pick up the pace and drop ALL the debt.

Get involved

• Print off our petition to the International Development Secretary from the right hand side of this page or order copies of our campaign postcard and other campaign materials.
• Take part in the Drop the Debt Fast from 12 April to 18 May, and help highlight the fate of 36 countries neglected by debt relief.
• Come to Birmingham on Sunday 18 May for Journey to Justice , our major event to mark the 10th anniversary of the Birmingham human chain.