A few weeks ago, one of the members of our church who acts as a rep.
for TEAR Australia, handed out a petition. The idea behind the petition
is simple: in the Old Testament law, every 50th year was to be declared
a Year of Jubilee. In that year, all debts were cancelled, slaves were
set free, and the whole country was given a “fresh start”. There is no
clear evidence that the people of Israel ever _observed_ the year of
Jubilee, but the idea was one of restoring and maintaining equality.
Poverty was not an endless downward spiral. Every family got a fresh
start every 50 years.

So what? What does this have to do with a petition in 1998? Well,
there are a few church and aid organisations who want to propose that
the year 2000 should be declared a Year of Jubilee. I pinched the
following from TEAR FUND’s UK website:

The Jubilee 2000 Charter

The Jubilee 2000 Charter suggests a solution to the problem of Third
World debt which is attractive to both debtors and creditors.

It proposes the remission – by 31 December 2000 – of the unpayable
debts owed by highly indebted poor countries to commercial banks,
creditor governments and multilateral bodies (such as the International
Monetary Fund, the World Bank and Regional Development Banks).

There is an overwhelming need for remission of the backlog of
unpayable debts owed by highly indebted poor countries. Debt remission
should relate to commercial, government and IMF/World Bank debts, and
debt reduction should comprehensively include all three forms of debt.
Creditors as well as debtors must accept responsibility for these high
levels of indebtedness.

The remission should be a one-off, unrepeatable act, tied to the
celebration of the new millennium. It would set no precedents for future
loans. The precise details of remission should be worked out in
consultation with both creditors and debtors for each debtor country.
These details should be agreed by arbitrators nominated in equal numbers
by both creditor and debtor, under the aegis of the UN. The
deliberations should be transparent and well-publicised, taking into
account for each debtor country, that country’s probity, economic
management, social policies and human rights record.

Funds available after the remission of debt should be channelled
into policies which benefit the poor, in Line with UNICEF’s
recommendations for investment in social development. Low income
countries – with an annual income per person of Less than US $700 –
should receive full remission of ale unpayable debt. Higher income
countries – with an annual income per person between US $700 and US
$2,000 – should receive partial remission.

The Jubilee 2000 Charter is offered as a model for a workable and
acceptable solution to the problem of poor country debt. It would create
a new, disciplined beginning to financial relations between North and
South, and a fresh start for millions of the world’s poor.

That’s the idea in a nutshell. It follows on from the report Mr
Croucher posted earlier about the appeal made to the G8 conference. On
the face of it, it sounds like a good idea. Anyone wanting more
background to the proposal, and stats on the grinding poverty of some of
the countries affected by the debt spiral, can direct their browsers to
the TEAR UK website:

http://www.tearfund.org.uk/gan/index.html

What do people think? Is this something that churches (and other
socially-aware people) should get behind and promote? What kinds of
objections might people have? What caveats and cautions?

Looking forward to some thoughts and contributions.

Regards,

Gordon

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Gordon Coleman
School of Physiology and Pharmacology
University of New South Wales
Sydney NSW 2052