Africa Action Demands Swift Passage of Debt Cancellation Legislation
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOVEMBER 8, 2007
2:43 PM
|
CONTACT: Africa Action
Marie Clarke Brill (202) 546-7961
|
| |
|
Jubilee Act Vital for African Development
Following Testimony by Debt Experts to US Congress, Africa Action
Demands Swift Passage of Debt Cancellation Legislation
|
| |
|
WASHINGTON - November 8 -Today, the House Committee
on Financial Services held a hearing on H.R. 2634, the Jubilee Act for
Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation of 2007. Testimony in
support of this legislation was provided by Neil Watkins, National
Coordinator of Jubilee USA Network, Emira Woods, Board Chair of Africa
Action and Co-Director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for
Policy Studies, Gerald F. Flood, Counselor at the Office of
International Justice and Peace, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and
Aldo Caliari, Director of the Rethinking Bretton Woods Project at the
Center of Concern. Africa Action called for the rapid mark-up of the
bill and urged the U.S. Congress to support comprehensive debt
cancellation and pass the Jubilee Act into law.
“Debt has kept Africa in bondage long after the end of slavery,” said
Emira Woods. “This legislation could help break those chains. It won’t
solve all of the problems of the world’s poorest countries. But it will
give these struggling nations a better chance of building strong, secure
and healthy societies.”
Bipartisan support for the Jubilee Act has been building in Congress
since it was introduced to the House on June 7. The bill now has
eighty-six co-sponsors, including four added this week. The Senate
version of the act was introduced on October 16 and already has twelve
co-sponsors. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank
and other Representatives at today’s hearing expressed their strong
support for debt cancellation as a moral imperative and a powerful
mechanism to fight global poverty and meet the Millennium Development
Goals.
Gerald LeMelle, Executive Director of Africa Action said today “The debt
accrued by the dictators of the past from complicit creditors is robbing
today’s Africans of basic rights like education and health care.
Previous debt relief efforts have yielded impressive results but have
not gone far enough. This bill would ensure that the money freed up by
debt cancellation goes directly to poverty reduction programs by
eliminating unfair conditionalities that limit spending by African
governments on social services. Having failed in the past to live up to
its commitments to fight global poverty, the U.S. must prioritize debt
cancellation to address the urgent needs of African countries unjustly
plagued by illegitimate debt.”
The Jubilee Act would expand the number of countries eligible for debt
cancellation, eliminate macroeconomic conditions countries must accept
in order to receive relief under current initiatives, and calls for the
U.S. Treasury to establish transparent frameworks that address the
issues of responsible future lending and predatory vulture funds.
For more information on Africa’s debt, please see:
Africa Action Stands with African Voices on Debt Cancellation
http://www.africaaction.org/newsroom/index.php?op=read&documentid=2494&type=15&issues=2
Africa Action Statement on Illegitimate Debt
http://www.africaaction.org/newsroom/index.php?op=read&documentid=2337&type=15&issues=2
### |
|
Printer Friendly Version
E-Mail This Article
