Some of the highest ranking religious leaders met with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai to express support for waiving vaccine patents. The measure, the religious leaders argue, will increase COVID vaccine access for developing countries. 

“The meeting with Tai was positive and she understands the urgent need to increase vaccine production for developing countries,” shared Eric LeCompte, the Executive Director of Jubilee USA which organized the Tai meeting with religious leaders. “Waiving vaccine COVID patents will help produce more vaccines and save lives in the developing world.”

According to the United Nations, poor countries received less than 1% of COVID vaccine doses. The World Trade Organization is considering temporarily waiving pharmaceutical patents so developing countries could produce vaccines, tests and treatments.

Leaders of the Catholic, Methodist, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian and United Church of Christ Churches and AFL-CIO joined Jubilee USA for the meeting. Beyond COVID response, the group discussed trade policies that protect the environment and jobs and prevent future crises in developing countries. 

"Religious institutions and voices are strongly urging that all COVID solutions protect the vulnerable, jobs and our planet," noted LeCompte. "This is the first time a US Trade Representative met with major religious leaders. The meeting was important because all of the faith leaders represent communities in the developing world who are facing devastating third and fourth waves of the pandemic."

In March, Jubilee USA organized a meeting between high-ranking faith leaders and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on pandemic response.

View the US Trade Representative Tai/Jubilee USA Network roundtable agenda and speakers list here.

Read about the WTO COVID vaccine patent waiver process here.

Read about the Secretary Yellen/Jubilee USA Network roundtable here.

Devex features Jubilee USA Network's historic meeting with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on the global economic response to the pandemic and international debt. Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full story.

US Treasury secretary meets with faith leaders about debt, COVID-19

By Adva Saldinger

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with U.S. faith leaders Tuesday to discuss the global economic response to the pandemic, debt relief, and financing efforts to address climate change.

It was a “historic meeting,” said Eric LeCompte, executive director at Jubilee USA, who spoke at and helped organize the meeting. “I don’t know of a time a treasury secretary sat down with some of the highest religious leaders in the U.S.”

Yellen “made clear the Biden Administration’s commitment to reducing global poverty,” and said low-income countries will need continued support to respond to the pandemic, according to a readout of the meeting from the Treasury Department. The Treasury Department is committed to working with international partners to address the crisis, including the implementation of existing debt relief efforts including the G-20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative and Common Framework for debt treatments, according to the readout.

Read the full article here.

Washington DC - Mozambique charged the former president's son and 19 others on corruption, fraud and blackmail in relation to a $2 billion dollar loan scandal.

“Some of the world's poorest people are the victims of the Mozambique debt scandal,” noted United Nations corruption and finance expert Eric LeCompte and Executive Director of the religious development group, Jubilee USA Network. “This behavior is only possible because of a lack of global loan transparency and a lack of public budget transparency in Mozambique.” 

In July, former Credit Suisse banker Andrew Pearse pled guilty in US Federal Court for accepting millions of dollars in a fraud scheme that led to the $2 billion Mozambique loan scandal and debt crisis in the East African country. Pearse and six others are accused of taking $200 million in kickbacks. US prosecutors argue that Credit Suisse and Russian-based VTB finance group hid secret loans by bribing bank and government officials. The loans were supposed to support the tuna fishing industry, but instead supported the outfitting of boats as military attack crafts.

Both the US and Mozambique governments also seek to prosecute and extradite former Mozambique finance minister Manuel Chang, currently detained in South Africa.

"The International community must implement standards on public budget transparency and responsible lending and borrowing to prevent future corruption,” said LeCompte. “The people of Mozambique struggle to recover from endemic corruption, a debt crisis and horrific natural disasters."

This year, the southeast African country was hit with two destructive cyclones.

Washington DC - The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released evidence that laws in the country of Mauritius help corporations avoid taxes globally, including on the continent of Africa.

"The Mauritius story is another window into how poor countries are losing billions of dollars a year because of a complex, yet legal web of tax treaties and shell corporations," stated Eric LeCompte, a United Nations finance expert and head of the religious development group Jubilee USA Network. "Developing countries are losing vital monies to fight poverty and build infrastructure because of this behavior that avoids paying taxes."

At the heart of the ICIJ investigation is the law firm of Conyers Dill and Pearman with offices in Bermuda, Hong Kong, the Cayman Islands and Mauritius. More than 200,000 leaked Conyers Dill and Pearman legal documents were anonymously sent to the investigative journalists and detailed how corporations use Mauritius to avoid paying taxes. Previously, similar investigations dubbed the "Panama Papers" and the "Paradise Papers" were performed by the ICIJ exposing similar tax avoidance and evasion processes.

"While much of this behavior is legal, it is still immoral," noted LeCompte. "For poor countries to be able to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, we need to eliminate this type of tax avoidance revenue loss."

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA was recently interviewed by Bond Buyer to discuss relief efforts in Puerto Rico. Read excerpt below and follow link to full article.

Humanitarian Advocates Optimistic on Aid to Puerto Rico

By: Brian Tumulty

Laura Esquivel, director of national Advocacy for the Hispanic Federation, and Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA Network, told The Bond Buyer they are hopeful Congress will rework the administration’s request and provide more funding[...]

LeCompte stressed the urgency of stepping up the recovery effort.

“I think Congress will step up and we will see in the coming weeks and months more packages around both relief and recovery and rebuilding aid as well as some financing issues addressed,” LeCompte said.

LeCompte said his organization supports having the oversight board established under PROMESA review contracts that are signed for spending federal funds in the recovery effort.

“There appears to be a need for some transparent and accountable way that contracts are reviewed," he said. “We just want it to be expedient and fast.” 

Read more here.