Fast for Economic Justice for Iraq Calls For Debt Cancellation

For Immediate Release Contact:

June 22, 2005 Jeff Leys:+41-076-5327845

Kathy Kelly:+41-076-4203126

leisafaulkner [at] hotmail.com



A Call for the Cancellation of All Odious Debt

Issued by

For Immediate Release Contact:

June 22, 2005 Jeff Leys:+41-076-5327845

Kathy Kelly:+41-076-4203126

leisafaulkner [at] hotmail.com



A Call for the Cancellation of All Odious Debt

Issued by Fast for Economic Justice for Iraq



Geneva, Switzerland—June 21—This week the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development is meeting in Geneva to discuss issues of external debt that impoverished countries around the world are forced to pay. The debt crisis in Iraq is a central point of discussion during today’s session.

Nine international social justice activists enter the 8th day without food in Geneva, New York and Amman demanding economic justice for Iraq.

They demand that the odious debt incurred by Saddam Hussein’s government be cancelled outright and without any economic conditions attached to the cancellation.

Fasters contend that most of the debt incurred by Saddam Hussein’s regime is odious debt. Debt claims against Iraq would be submitted to an international arbitration tribunal which would determine whether the debt is odious— whether it was incurred by Saddam Hussein’s regime to advance his own interests at the expense of the Iraqi people and whether it was incurred without the consent of the Iraqi people. All such odious debt would be cancelled.

The Fast for Economic Justice for Iraq demands that debt cancellation for Iraq be provided without economic conditions attached. Those participating in the fast strongly oppose any of the structural readjustment programs which normally are attached by the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and other international financial institutions. These policies promote austerity measures under which the poorest people suffer the most.

“Members of the Paris Club have agreed to ‘forgive’ eighty percent of Iraq’s debt, but only with conditions attached,” says Jeff Leys, a member of Voices in the Wilderness who is engaged in the fast. “But only the first thirty percent would be ‘forgiven’ without conditions. The remaining fifty percent requires that Iraq adopt and then fulfil conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund. Even that first thirty percent could arguably be said to represent only a portion of the interest on the debt which built up after 1991 when the imposition of economic sanctions precluded Iraq from making any debt service payments.”

“The economic injustice created by the external debt crisis must end. We are calling for unconditional cancellation of Iraq’s odious debt to help alleviate the people’s suffering. Iraq’s external debt should not be talked about in terms of forgiveness because the Iraqi people had no say in the loans and received no benefits from them. They do not owe and should not have to pay,” states Rita Jankowska-Bradley of Jubilee USA Network.

“It is unconscionable that the Iraqi people, who have suffered the most at the murderous hand of Saddam Hussein, now as they are beaten and broken be asked to pay off the very loans he made to oppress them and attack others,” says Leisa Faulkner, of Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) and founder of Coalition for Democracy in Haiti.

Participants in the Fast for Economic Justice for Iraq maintain a daily vigil, from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., at the Pregny entrance to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.

Those going without food from June 15 to June 30 include: Kathy Kelly, co-founder of Voices in the Wilderness and two time Noble peace prize nominee; Justin Alexander, of Jubilee Iraq (fasting in Amman); Rita Jankowska-Bradley, Board Member of Jubilee USA Network, a founder of Jubilee Missoula, and member of the Montana Peace Seekers Network; Leisa Faulkner, founder of Coalition for Democracy in Haiti, member of Progressive Democrats of America, and organizer with School of the Americas Watch; Cathy Breen, member of the New York City Catholic Worker Community who has travelled to Iraq numerous times and was present in Baghdad when U.S. occupation forces entered the city; Cynthia Banas, who lived in Iraq in solidarity with Iraqis from October 2002 to May 2003, before and during the U.S. led invasion of Iraq and during the initial weeks of the U.S. occupation of Iraq; Farah Marie Mokhtareizadeh, who also was a member of the Iraq Peace Team; Jeff Leys, organizer with Voices in the Wilderness; and Paul Frazier, a member of the Catholic Worker Movement who is fasting outside the U.N. in New York City.






“If you let your fear of consequence prevent you from following your deepest instinct, your life will be safe, expedient and thin." Katharine Butler Hathaway