Call In to Cancel Haiti's Debt
Thursday,March, 29 ,2007 Filed in: Justice Issues
March 29 is the call in day to help cancel Haiti's debt. That day marks the 20th anniversary of Haiti’s constitution, a significant milestone in the very long struggle for democracy and respect for human rights. We are encouraged by Jubilee USA to contact members of Congress to urge them to support a House resolution that would immediately cancel Haiti’s debt.
H.R. Resolution 241 urges the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and other international financial institutions to completely cancel Haiti’s debt without delays. In 2006, Haiti was added to the World Bank and IMF’s list of heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC), eligible for debt cancellation, but under the harmful economic conditions of these two institutions’ debt relief program, Haiti will not see this relief until 2009 at the earliest by which time the country will have paid $138 million in debt service, money which is desperately needed for health, education and other social sector spending. H.Res. 241 was introduced March 13 by Rep. Maxine Waters along with Reps. Spencer Bachus, Donald Payne, Luis Gutierrez, Carolyn Maloney, Barbara Lee, John Conyers, and William Delahunt. (House switchboard: 202-224-3121. To cosponsor the Resolution Reps should contact Kathleen Sengstock in Maxine Waters’ office)