Debt Cancellation for Haiti

July 22 - Jubilee USA Network welcomes the International Monetary Fund Executive Board’s decision to cancel Haiti’s $268 million debt to the institution in response to the January 12 earthquake, but is concerned over the IMF’s decision to provide $60 million in financing support as a new loan. Read the press release here.

After January's devastating earthquake, Jubilee USA Network led the call for complete debt cancellation for the country. Thanks to efforts from supporters around the world, all of Haiti's donors have committed to debt cancellation. We are continuing to work to make sure that Haiti is freed from the chains of debt once and for all.

VISIT Haiti Home Page
WATCH Watch Melinda St. Louis, Deputy Director, testify in Congress on the importance of debt relief
WATCH Forgive Haiti's debt? Jubilee USA Network on MSNBC

Congress Tells President Obama to Fight Poverty

July 22 - The House of Representatives is going to send a letter to President Obama urging him to include expanded debt relief without harmful conditions and increased lending and borrowing in his plan to fight poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). He'll present this plan at the UN MDG Review Summit this September.

TAKE ACTION:
- Send a message to your Representative to sign a letter to President Obama
- Call your Representative today

Jubilee Brings Message to Treasury

July 7 - In late June, Jubilee USA and national religious leaders met with Lael Brainard, the newly confirmed Under Secretary at the US Treasury Department. At this high level meeting, we discussed the need for the United States to commit to cancel debts of the most vulnerable countries, ensure just and responsible borrowing and bring accountability to the G20 governments and the international institutions. We presented the Treasury officials with 10,000 messages from Jubilee supporters across the country.

Stand Up Against Debt & Global Poverty

September 17 - 19 - With only five years left to reach the Millennium Development Goals to end poverty, we must urge our leaders to stay true to their commitments.

Join Jubilee groups across the country in organizing their communities to Stand Up Against Poverty on this weekend. Last year over 173 million people stood up around the world to declare their commitment. This year, Stand Up falls on our annual Jubilee Sunday when faith communities plan their services around the concepts of Jubilee and take action.

LEARN MORE here

G20: Making the Grade for the World’s Poorest?

June 2010 - Jubilee USA’s new report, "Making the Grade? The G20’s Commitments to the World’s Poorest" finds that the Group of 20 (G20) has made shockingly little progress toward fulfilling its promises to the poorest countries since its second summit in September 2009.

DOWNLOAD Making the Grade? The G20's Commitments to the World's Poorest
DOWNLOAD G20 Scorecard
READ Press Release
TAKE ACTION Send a letter to the editor today

United States Social Forum

June 2010 - On June 22 - 26th, Jubilee USA participated in the United States Social Forum (USSF), a gathering of organizations, movements, and individuals from across the country in Detroit to discuss and plan to create a more just economic and political system. Jubilee played a leadership role in the event and ran a number of workshops.

LEARN MORE here

Linking Our Voices Campaign

Spring - Join us this year in our Linking Our Voices Campaign. Building on last year's Change, Not Chains Campaign we continue to call for debt cancellation and a new system for international lending and borrowing.

Across the country, Jubilee chapters, congregations, and supporters are "Linking our Voices" together by creating paper chains that urge leaders to break the chains of debt once and for all. We will collect all the chains and deliver them when the time is right to make a powerful statement. We we also link our voices through new educational activities, religious resources, and participation at the United States Social Fourm and Stand Up! Take Action Days.

JOIN & LEARN MORE Linking our Voices Page

Stop the Vulture Culture

May 13- Jubilee USA Network continues its campaign with Africa Action and TransAfrica Forum to stop Vulture Funds from preying on impoverished countries. Vulture Funds are predatory funds that buy poor countries' defaulted debt for pennies on the dollar, then sue for huge profits once the country gets debt relief.

WATCH Jubilee's new Stop the Vulture Culture music video here.

The Stop VULTURE Funds Act (HR 2932) is a bill in the House of Representatives that would prevent vulture funds from making excessive profit off the debt of the world's poorest nations. The bill was re-introduced by Representatives Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Spencer Bachus (R-AL).

DOWNLOAD Jubilee's new grassroots fact sheet
LEARN MORE here

Jubilee Act Introduced in the House of Representatives

December 16 - Today the Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation (HR 4405) was introduced in the House of Representatives.

The bi-partisan bill expands critical debt cancellation to 22 additional impoverished countries left out of previous debt relief deals and calls for an end to harmful economic conditions and an audit of past odious and illegitimate debts.

TAKE ACTION:
- Call your Representative today!
- Please take thirty seconds to send a message to your Representative asking him/her to sign on as an early cosponsor to the Jubilee Act.

Last year, the Jubilee Act passed in the House of Representatives and the Foreign Relations Committee in the Senate.

Another Victory: Liberia Eliminates $1.2 Billion in Commercial Debt

: Jubilee Activists Protest at Treasury Department in 2007

April 17th - Liberia has reached an agreement with its commercial creditors (including some potential “vulture funds”) to eliminate $1.2 billion of its illegitimate commercial debt!

Jubilee USA and partners have been raising the call for total cancellation of Liberia’s odious and illegitimate debt for several years. Together, we helped secure the clearance of Liberia’s arrears to the IMF, World Bank and African Development Bank in late 2007.

Now, Liberia has taken the next step on its long journey to freedom from crushing debt by buying back nearly all of its commercial debt from its creditors, some of whom were vulture funds.

Liberia was able to negotiate a deal to pay its creditors only 3 cents for every dollar “owed.” And this payment will be covered by donors, including the World Bank and the US government, who have given Liberia a $38 million dollar grant to pay off its commercial creditors. Liberia’s debt burden is reduced from $4.9 billion to $1.8 billion.