As a cyclone hits Haiti, rescue workers searched for survivors from Saturday's 7.2 magnitude earthquake. At least 1300 are confirmed dead and thousands of homes destroyed in one of the world's poorest countries. 

“The earthquake devastation in Haiti is quite severe,” said Eric LeCompte a United Nations finance expert and the Executive Director of Jubilee USA Network. “Earthquake recovery is more difficult because nearly 60% of people live in poverty, high debts mean Haiti lacks resources to respond, the island still hasn't recovered from the last major earthquake 10 years ago and the COVID pandemic."

Haiti holds $2.2 billion in debt owed mostly to other countries and international financial institutions. Haiti’s debt to the IMF stands at $185 million.

As part of the IMF's COVID response, $17 million of Haiti's IMF debt payments were canceled through a process called the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) since April 2020. Unless the relief process is extended, Haiti resumes IMF debt payments in November. Eligibility for debt relief under the CCRT can include natural disasters.

"The international community must ensure that Haiti receives sufficient funds and aid," stated LeCompte. "Debt relief and supporting greater transparency in Haiti's government will be important for recovery."

A government audit in 2019 revealed lost monies, including $2 billion lost in an oil program between Haiti and Venezuela's PetroCaribe. In July, Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated.

Haiti's 2010 earthquake killed 250,000 people and inflicted more than $8 billion in damages. Jubilee USA's 2010 efforts resulted in more than $1 billion in debt relief for Haiti and the creation of the CCRT. The predecessor of the CCRT was specifically established to first support Haiti's 2010 earthquake relief. In 2015, Ebola-hit African countries received debt relief through the CCRT. Last year, the IMF activated the debt relief process to respond to the pandemic in Haiti and 28 of the poorest countries.

Labor leader Richard Trumka passed away at 72. Trumka was President of the AFL-CIO, the largest US union.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development organization Jubilee USA Network, worked with Richard Trumka and the AFL-CIO. The AFL-CIO was a founding member of Jubilee USA Network. LeCompte issues the following statement on Trumka's passing:

“Rich Trumka's passing is incredibly sad.

“He was a powerful voice for workers and the vulnerable.

“I remember the meetings he convened with the leaders of the largest unions in his office to meet with Jubilee on supporting debt and disaster relief for Puerto Rico. It was his leadership that made sure the labor community understood the urgent need to advocate for Puerto Rico's recovery.

“While Trumka fought for the rights of workers, he was a deep supporter of efforts of the religious community to advocate for trade rules that protected poor people and promoted healthcare.

“This week, he ensured the AFL-CIO showed its support for our religious leader roundtable with US Trade Representative Tai.

“Trumka's conviction, voice and actions stemmed from his faith. Coming from a coal mining family, he often shared stories of how the Catholic Church defended the rights of workers. He saw the Church as being the ally of those who struggled to have a better life."

The World Trade Organization closed two-day meetings on pandemic response policies that included a proposal to temporarily wave COVID vaccine patents.  

A proposal in front of the World Trade Organization could make it easier for countries to access COVID vaccines. This week the global trade body reviews the proposal to waive pharmaceutical vaccine patents as part of a menu of trade pandemic response policies. 

“Not enough vaccines are getting to developing countries,” noted Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA Network. “Part of the solution is supporting countries to produce the vaccines that they and other countries desperately need."

According to the United Nations, wealthy countries received 82% of COVID vaccine doses, while poor nations received less than 1%. The US government supports WTO action to temporarily waive vaccine patents. The WTO is not expected to act on the proposal until the fall.

“Every moment we delay acting, means more lives lost and more countries face prolonged economic crises,” said LeCompte.

Read about the WTO COVID vaccine patent waiver process here.

Eric LeCompte and Jubilee USA featured in Front Page Africa on the IMF's decision to allocate $650 billion global reserve funds, $350 million of which would benefit Liberia. Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full story.

Liberia to Benefit US$350M from IMF US$16Bn Aid to Poor Countries for Post-Covid Recovery

By Lennart Dodoo

Jubilee USA Network, a nonprofit organization that advocates debt relief for poor countries, praised the move by the I.M.F. and called on wealthy countries to do more to help.

“This is the biggest creation of emergency reserve funds that we’ve ever seen, and developing countries will immediately receive more than $200 billion,” said Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA Network. “Wealthy countries who receive emergency reserves they don’t need should transfer those resources to developing countries struggling through the pandemic.”

The I.M.F., the World Bank, the World Health Organization and the World Trade Organization have created a new vaccine task force and called for an additional $50 billion investment to broaden access to supplies. The groups have also called on G20 countries to set a goal of having 40 percent of their populations vaccinated by the end of this year and 60 percent by the middle of next year.

Read more here.

Eric LeCompte is featured in Reuters on the need for universal vaccine access. Read an excerpt below and click here for the full story,

Virus variants threaten global recovery, G20 warns

By Gavin Jones, Leigh Thomas

An upsurge in new coronavirus variants and poor access to vaccines in developing countries threaten the global economic recovery, finance ministers of the world’s 20 largest economies warned on Saturday.

Italy said it the G20 would return to the issue of vaccine funding for poor countries ahead of a Rome summit in October and that new variants was an area that needed to be looked at. It did not give further details.

“We must agree on a process for everyone on the planet to be able to access vaccines. If we don’t, the IMF predicts that the global economy will lose $9 trillion,” religious development organization Jubilee USA Network said.

It was referring to an IMF forecast that international cooperation on COVID-19 vaccines could speed world economic recovery and add $9 trillion to global income by 2025.

Read more here.

G20 finance ministers and central bank governors met in Venice, Italy, on COVID response, economic recovery, vaccines, debt relief and global tax agreements on July 9-10, 2021.

Critical COVID Aid Could Reach Developing Countries in August

The International Monetary Fund Executive Board agreed to create $650 billion of emergency currency known as Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to help countries deal with the fallout from the coronavirus health and economic crises. The IMF’s main governing body, the Board of Governors, will take a final vote in coming weeks to move forward the SDRs creation. In a statement, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva indicated she expects the allocation as soon as August. 

Nearly 270 groups Call on G20 to Curb Tax Avoidance, Support Debt Relief and COVID Healthcare

Overview

Are you seeking an opportunity to strengthen your advocacy skills and grow your career? At Jubilee USA Network, we work together to advocate for policy change that strikes at the roots of global poverty. We are recruiting Associates who are passionate about social justice and love working in a collaborative team environment. We offer a variety of professional development opportunities that will help you advance your career as an advocate of social justice in the nonprofit and government sectors.

Professional Development Opportunities 

• Curate a professional portfolio by documenting projects, memos, and other relevant material throughout the term. This allows Associates to demonstrate their experience in the workplace through valuable writing samples that are relevant to their future career goals. Examples of portfolio materials could include social media content, official memos, research briefs, fact sheets, major event announcements, graphic design products, and other projects. We assist Associates in professionalizing their portfolios.
• Receive one-on-one mentorship from the Communications & Operations Manager. Each Associate meets with the Manager in the first week to discuss their goals for the internship and their larger professional and academic aspirations. The Manager will work with Associates to assign projects in alignment with those goals. At the end of the internship, Associates will 1) reflect on their experience and 2) discuss next steps with the Manager to determine how they can most strategically move forward in their career and how Jubilee can be a long-term resource. Throughout your time at Jubilee (and beyond!), the Manager is available for resume help, referrals, and career advice.
• Participate in Policy Forums where Associates interface directly with policy experts who have decades of domestic and international experience on issues within Jubilee’s policy portfolio.
• Strengthen transferable hard skills by gaining hands-on experience with various types of software common in the nonprofit sector: Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Content Management Systems (CMS), and project management software. Experience with any of these is not required to join the team - we’ll happily teach you from scratch!
• Develop relationships by working closely with a cohort of 4-6 Associates in a highly collaborative environment. Almost every major project is assigned to a team, which allows Associates to build relationships and balance multiple projects alongside one another.
• Exercise creativity and leadership: If you have an idea on how we can improve an existing process or a pitch for an entirely new initiative, you can lead a pilot project to implement your suggestion in consultation with the Manager.
• End the term with an official letter of recommendation: The Manager will issue an official letter of recommendation to high-performing Associates upon request at the end of the internship.

To Apply

To apply, email your updated resume to [email protected] and include the name of the position(s) you are seeking in the subject line. Please mention if you are open to multiple positions in your email if that is the case. We are accepting applications on a rolling basis and have the capacity to take on four to six associates in the cohort. While this is an unpaid internship, we enthusiastically work with the student and their college to offer academic credit. The Summer term runs from May 27th to August 17th. Note: This internship can be completed entirely virtually but preference may be given to Associates who can participate in person. 

Please click the below links to read more about each position: 

Communications Associate

Policy Associate

Development & Executive Associate

Outreach Associate

Jubilee USA Network

Jubilee USA Network is an interfaith, non-profit alliance of religious, development and advocacy organizations. We are 75 U.S. institutions and more than 750 faith groups working across the United States and around the globe to strike at the roots of poverty and inequality. Our policy portfolio encompasses the following structural issues:

• Debt‎ and Lending

• Tax, Transparency, Accountability and Corruption

• ‎Consumer Financial Protections

• Trade Policies

• Preventing Financial Crisis and Austerity
  

We would love for you to join us in this mission! 

The presidents and prime ministers of 7 of the world's wealthiest countries gather in the United Kingdom to meet on the response to the economic and health crises spurred by the coronavirus. Hosted in the seaside town of Cornwall this weekend, the G7 Summit focuses on global vaccine distribution and tax, debt, aid, trade and climate policies.

“As developing countries struggle with a third wave of the coronavirus, it's clear that the world faces a prolonged economic crisis,” said Eric LeCompte, a United Nations finance expert and leader of the religious development organization Jubilee USA Network. “The only way to beat the dire economic forecasts is to distribute vaccines quickly and provide debt relief and aid to developing countries."

Less than 2% of COVID vaccines reached poor countries. The International Monetary Fund asserts the global economy will lose $9 trillion if vaccines are not distributed by 2022 to developing countries.

On Wednesday, the World Trade Organization began a vaccine patent waiver process that could help developing countries produce and procure more vaccines.

“Unfortunately, G7 leaders still have not come to an agreement on waiving the pharmaceutical patents on vaccines,” remarked LeCompte. "More and more people will die as wealthy countries wait to waive COVID vaccine patents."

As a part of the coronavirus response, the G7 supports a debt relief process for poor countries and agreements to curb corporate and digital tax avoidance.

"The G7 tax deal could help boost revenues that countries need to get through the crisis," shared LeCompte.  "While G7 support of debt relief is critical as we confront the pandemic, the G7 should support expanding relief to assist more developing countries in need."

During the summit, the G7 will discuss a $650 billion creation of Special Drawing Rights, a special IMF reserve currency, to respond to the corona economic crisis. Specifically, the G7 will review how these emergency funds can assist developing countries access vaccines, reduce poverty and fight climate change.

“The Special Drawing Rights could be a critical source of funding for the IMF's $50 billion plan to end the pandemic," stated LeCompte.

Read about the WTO vaccine patent waiver process here.

Read Jubilee USA's statement on last week's G7 finance ministers meeting and communiqué here.

Read the Jubilee USA Network press release on last week's G7 finance ministers meeting here.

Read about the IMF $50 billion plan to end the pandemic here.

A Common Dreams article features Eric LeCompte on the World Trade Organization's (WTO) talks to waive patent rights for the COVID vaccine. Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full story.

'Shame It's Taken So Long': Health Advocates Welcome Formal WTO Talks to Suspend Covid Vaccine Patents

By Kenny Stancil

A recent analysis by a coalition of humanitarian groups estimated that at the current vaccination rate, it would take low-income countries 57 years to fully vaccinate their populations against Covid-19.

"Without enough vaccines, developing countries continue to lose lives and jobs," said Eric LeCompte of Jubilee USA Network, whose advocacy work includes pushing for equitable medicine access in trade agreements. "We must move as fast as possible so all people can receive coronavirus vaccines, therapies, and medical equipment to respond to the crisis."

LeCompte added that "unless we act quickly on global vaccine access, most of the world's countries will see lost decades of development. As the crisis worsens in developing countries, wealthy countries will face more economic shocks."

As epidemiologists and advocates for a "people's vaccine" have stressed since the beginning of the pandemic, the more chances the virus has to mutate, the more the lives and livelihoods of millions of people around the world are endangered.

Read the full article here.

G7 finance ministers met in London to discuss global COVID-19 response, vaccines, debt relief and global tax reform.

Discussing global COVID response and tax policy, G7 finance ministers began two days of meetings on Friday.

Click here to view report.

Heads of the primary global financial, trade and health institutions urged government leaders to finance a $50 billion vaccine plan to end the pandemic. “A two-track pandemic is developing, with richer countries having access and poorer ones being left behind,” shared IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank President David Malpass, World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and World Trade Organization Director General Nkozi Okonjo-Iweala in a joint statement.

“Since the IMF released its vaccine plan at the G20 Health Summit 10 days ago, voices are growing to ensure universal vaccine access,” said Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA Network. “With what's at stake for everyone's health and the global economy, it's critical that we act quickly and invest more towards global vaccine access."

The IMF argues that the global vaccine investment would spur $9 trillion in economic gains by 2025. The proposal requires the mobilization of public and private donations and cheap loans. The leaders also called for surplus vaccines to be donated to developing countries.