Life after Debt (reproduced from ‘All the World’ October 1999, Vol 37 No 4)

by Colonel Earl Robinson, The Salvation Army's Secretary for International External Relations


IT'S shocking but true: many poor countries spend more on debt than on health and education.
Africa for example spends four times more on debt repayments than it does on health care. In some countries the debt per person is greater than the gross national product per capita. Partly because of the debts of poor countries to rich countries, 20 per cent of humanity has 85 per cent of the wealth of the world.

When it was announced in 1998 that The Salvation Army had become a corporate member of Jubilee 2000, the campaign for the cancellation or reduction of third world debt, the Army's then-international leader, General Paul Rader, commented: 'The Salvation Army is committed to the poor.'

His statement was an expression of concern at the way governments and the world's financial structures seem to be making it increasingly difficult for the poor nations of the world to become self-sufficient. Many countries in the developing world have repaid much more than the equivalent of original loans made to them by developed countries.

According to a United Nations report, the debt of the 41 highly indebted poor countries totalled US$215 billion in 1997, up from $180 billion in 1990, and $55 billion in 1980. It is now estimated to be $370 billion.

Rich nations take back $3 in debt repayments for every $1 they give in aid.

Salvationists added their signatures to a Jubilee 2000 petition for easing the debt crisis endorsed by 17 million persons. The petition was presented to the G8 heads of the world's seven major industrial powers and Russian president Boris Yeltsin when they met in Germany on 19 June this year.

More than 35,000 people from 60 countries linked hands in a 10-kilometre-long human chain around the centre of Cologne, where the leaders were meeting. Similar protests were held in other parts of the world. In London, England, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, was one of an estimated 50,000 campaigners who linked hands to form a human chain along the River Thames.

Such intense pressure led the G8 countries meeting in Cologne towards an agreement to cancel $70 billion of foreign debt. That is less than a quarter of the total unrepayable debt although it is an improvement on a $25 billion package offered in 1998.

A spokesperson for the Jubilee 2000 campaign expressed appreciation and a hope for the future when she said: 'The G8 countries have made great strides. If they continue at this pace, then we will achieve our goals in the year 2000. We congratulate the millions of people around the world who have made this happen. Sixteen countries will have their debt payments significantly reduced.

'But,' she added, 'many other poor countries gain nothing.'

The campaign must therefore continue if there is to be a significant release from financial burdens for other indebted countries in a jubilee celebration at the beginning of the 21st century.

World debt affects the relief work of The Salvation Army and other organisations - government assistance for such work cannot be forthcoming when governments have to use their resources to pay overseas debts; such work can do little more than assist survival rates in countries where, partly because of debt, 70 per cent or more of the population live below the poverty line, surviving on US$1 or less per day.

In the Bible, the Old Testament book of Leviticus (25:10) indicates that each 50th year was to be celebrated as a 'jubilee' year when slaves were to be released and land was to be returned to original owners so that families would have the opportunity for a fresh start. According to the New Testament, Jesus proclaimed that he had been chosen to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the captives and to free the oppressed (Luke 4:18-19).

Will the year 2000 be a jubilee year in providing a fresh start for the oppressed peoples of this era?

Will Christians be faithful in following their Lord by seeking to ensure that there is good news for the poor as we enter a new millennium?

Only time will tell.

What Can I do?

Anyone can take part in a petition. Jubilee 2000 suggests that petitions should contain the
following wording:

We, the undersigned,

• believe that the start of the new millennium should be a time to give hope to the impoverished people of the world;
• believe it is right to put behind us the mistakes made by both lenders and borrowers, and to cancel the backlog of unpayable debts of the most impoverished nations;
• call upon the leaders of lending nations to write off these debts by the year 2000. We ask them to take effective steps to prevent such high levels of debt building up again. We look for a new beginning to celebrate the millennium.

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