News Archives
New Zealand stance in 2006
Read Hon. Michael Cullen's speech to the Annual meeting of the World Bank and the IMF held in September 2006. Cullen discusses New Zealand support for the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative and discusses proposed reforms of the World Bank and the IMF.
Read more here.
In February 2006, Jubilee Aotearoa wrote to Hon. Michael Cullen regarding New Zealand government stance on debt.
Read Jubilee's letter here.
Don't falter on the Debt Deal - 26 September 2005
"So often in the past the rights of poor people have been lost in lengthy pronouncements and vacuous promises but this time we are hoping for a breakthrough that delivers," says Gillian Southey, a spokesperson for Jubilee Aotearoa, in response to the latest announcement on debt relief for poor countries.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank annual meetings over the weekend decided to implement the debt cancellation agreed at July's G8 meeting in Scotland. Jubilee is hoping that final agreement from the executive boards of these two institutions will be forthcoming in order to deliver the promised deal into the hands of the people who need it most.
Read Jubilee Aotearoa's Full Press Release
Debt cancellation a glimmer of hope -13 June 2005
Jubilee Aotearoa, New Zealand's Debt Action Network, congratulates the G8 Finance ministers on offering a glimmer of hope to some of the world's poorest countries unfairly burdened by debt.
Over the weekend, G8 Heads of Government stated a commitment to 100% debt cancellation for 18 of the world's poorest countries. The debt relief however, falls short of what the non-governmental community, including that of New Zealand, has called for.
Read Jubilee Aotearoa's Full Press Release
Political Parties Position on Debt
In response to our statement on debt and accompanying questions, Jubilee Aotearoa has so far heard back from only three political parties: the Progressive Party, United Future, and ACT. As other parties respond we'll add their comments.
Read responses from the Progressive Party, United Future, and ACT
Lobbying New Zealand Political Parties
"On 31 March, Jubilee Aotearoa wrote to the General Secretaries of each of the political parties currently in government asking them to commit their party to:
- The 100% cancellation of the unsustainable debt of poor countries
- The withdrawal of harmful donor economic "conditionalities" on future loans
- The support of the UK Proposal to cancel debt through (among other measures) the sale or revaluation of IMF gold reserves, and not at the expense of existing aid budgets, and
- Contributing financially to multilateral debt cancellation.
We expect to hear back from the parties over April/May and will be publishing the responses and different party positions on our website in the lead up to the 2005 general election.
You can support this action by writing or going to see your local MP and seeking their support for a strong party position on an end to the burden of debt on poor countries."
Read Jubilee Aotearoa's Full Letter to New Zealand Political Parties
Make Poverty History!
On 16/17 April the World Bank and International Monetary Fund will meet again in Washington. On the agenda are a number of proposals to achieve greater and faster relief of the debt burden on poor countries and, in particular, proposals to finance this relief through the sale or revaluation of the gold reserves of the International Monetary Fund.
It is now abundantly clear that without a lasting solution to the current debt crisis there will be little hope that the majority of heavily indebted poor countries or other countries with unsustainable debt burdens will be able to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Such a failure would not simply be another sad statistic. It would be a failure measured in human lives and lost potential. It would be a failure by world leaders to place the interests of our common humanity above national self-interest, at a time when the need and urgency has never been greater, nor the world wealthier or more possessed of the resources required.
Read Jubilee Aotearoa's Full Letter
Don't Vote for Wolfowitz
Jubilee Aotearoa calls on Dr Michael Cullen to oppose the nomination of Paul Wolfowitz as the next head of the World Bank.
“Wolfowitz is not the man for the job,” says Gillian Southey, spokesperson for Jubilee Aotearoa. “He was one of the architects of the US invasion of Iraq and is seen throughout much of the world as a person who is determined to impose the US government’s will on the rest of us. There is no obvious reason why the government should support his nomination. As a coalition long concerned about the damaging effects of World Bank policies on the world’s poorest people we ask the New Zealand government to say no.”
This announcement highlights the lack of democracy in the World Bank. By tradition the World Bank president is a US appointment endorsed by the Board. It is not an open process and fails to meet the criteria of “good governance”, a condition increasingly placed on many of the poorest countries seeking debt relief or new loans.
Read Jubilee Aotearoa's Full Press Release
Go for the Gold, Dr Cullen - Cancel the debt
Jubilee Aotearoa is calling on Dr Cullen to “go for the gold” at the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank over the weekend and push for 100% debt cancellation.
“Dr Cullen will address the meeting. It is an opportunity that cannot be missed. When millions of people do not have enough to eat or access to safe water and basic health care because their governments have to repay loan upon loan, we are asking him to stand up for them by urging these powerful institutions to cancel the debt,” said Gillian Southey, spokesperson for Jubilee Aotearoa. “For the richest countries it is an opportunity to make good their promises and breathe new life into the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals.”
Read Jubilee Aotearoa's Full Press Release
CWS: Christian World Service welcomes debt moves
Christian World Service is relieved by Gordon Brown’s announcement that the British government will write off some poor countries’ debt.
“It is a victory for the millions of people who have responded to the devastation of debt by supporting the Jubilee campaign,” said Gillian Southey, spokesperson for Christian World Service, part of Jubilee Aotearoa.
Oxfam NZ: NZ must seize golden opportunity to drop the debt
New Zealand has an important role to play in a historic opportunity to provide a fresh start for the world’s poor. Since the 1970s, a mountain of unpayable debt has trapped the world’s poorest countries in a cycle of debt and poverty. Finally, after decades of half measures, Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown has broken ranks and committed to cancel the share of the multilateral debts owed to Britain.
Today, Oxfam New Zealand has called on Dr Michael Cullen as Minister of Finance to back this proposal, which would be financed partly from government funds and partly from revaluation of IMF gold reserves. The reserves are currently grossly under-valued at around one-fifth of the market price for gold of US$400 per ounce. Revaluing IMF reserves would release up to US$32billion according to Oxfam calculations.
Read Oxfam's Full Media Release
Postcard
Campaign
Countries receive debt relief through the IMF and World Bank under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) but only after jumping through many hoops. The baseline for eligibility for debt relief is an arbitrary measure of the debt to export ratio. It bears no relation to human suffering. Therefore Jubilee Aotearoa is campaigning for a countries repayment capacity to be measured against its ability to ensure that its citizens have food, education and healthcare. Jubilee Aotearoa believes these needs must be met before a country repays debt. To this end we have organised a postcard campaign to the government asking them to argue that debt repayments be measured against the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.
Please contact us if you would like a set, or several sets, of postcards.
Rich Countries do it Again
New Zealand aid agencies are angry that the just completed spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank once again offered no hope for the world's poorest peoples.
'The rich countries have done it again,' said Christian World Service Director, Jonathan Fletcher. 'They totally dominate the board of the IMF and the World Bank and control all their monetary resources. They have the capacity to cut the levels of debt that are strangling the economies of many developing countries and to end the economic policies that put theory before people. With their immense financial reserves they could literally save the lives of millions of people. But they don't.'
In releasing the Global Monitoring Report 2004, the IMF warned that 'most developing countries will fail to meet most of the Millennium Development Goals that serve as targets for the global effort to reduce poverty and improve services for the poor by 2015.' (read more)
