Magyar Egyház, 1999 (78. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
1999 / 3. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 5. oldal DEBT CRISIS AROUND THE WORLD Jubilee 2000 is an international movement in over 40 countries advocating a debt-free start to the Millennium for a billion people. Jubilee 2000 is calling for: • a one-off cancellation of the unpayable debts • of the world’s poorest countries • by the year 2000, • under a fair and transparent process. UNPAYABLE DEBTS OF THE WORLD’S POOREST COUNTRIES Over 50 countries in the world have debts that will never be paid back but continue to be paid daily with people’s lives. The debt burden of the poorest countries is 93% of their income. Every year, resources are being diverted from health, education and sanitation towards unproductive debt services. The United Nations Development Program in 1997 stated that 21 million children’s lives could be saved if the money used for debt service was put into health and education. Jubilee 2000 calls for the cancellation of unpayable debt It will never be paid economically or will be paid only by exacting unacceptable costs in diverting resources from health, education and sanitation. THE YEAR 2000 The debt crisis in the world has had a devastating impact since its emergence in 1982. The Jubilee 2000 campaign believes that it is time to give a deadline for action to the creditors. The campaign is inspired by the scriptural idea of the Jubilee Year: periodically, every 50 years, debts are forgiven, and liberty is proclaimed throughout the land. Jubilee is a time to apply self-righting mechanisms for restoring balance to society. Jubilee 2000 calls for the unprecedented opportunity of the millenium to be celebrated in a meaningful way - by canceling debts and giving a new start to the world’s poor. UNDER A FAIR AND TRANSPARENT PROCESS The current lending and debt relief process is fundamentally unjust. International loans are negotiated in secret between local elite and powerful creditors like the IMF, the World Bank and government export credit agencies. Loans are often made for political reasons or to promote exports. Yet, it is ordinary people who pay the costs as funds are diverted from water, health, education and sanitation into debt repayment. There is no international bankruptcy law, so no line is drawn under unpayable debts. Instead, any debt relief negotiations are always driven by creditors, who are naturally unwilling to write off debts. Jubilee 2000 calls for co-responsibility of debtors and creditors for the debt crisis. Remission of debt should be worked out through a fair and transparent process ensuring full participation of debtors in negotiations on debt relief. f“Update” - WARC) CHURCH AND SOCIETY At the 23rd General Council in Debrecen, Hungary, WARC member churches committed themselves to eliminating gender discrimination in church and society, by creating the Department of Partnership of Women and Men. It was hoped that in this space, women, men and youth would engage in rigorous analysis and action to understand gender discrimination and to build justice as the foundation for the inclusive community of faith intended by Jesus Christ. This means understanding the difference between sex roles and gender roles, and understanding that the latter, being socially, culturally and historically determined and constructed, can be changed. Thus, nurturing partnership of women and men (koinonia, that spirit of equality, which was the special gift to the church at Pentecost) is based on the recognition that gender inequality is caused by structural and institutional discrimination. The main objective of the gender approach is to facilitate the renewal and transformation of gender relations in the search for an inclusive community of faith to meet the needs of today’s church and society. ★ * * Indonesia: The crisis in Asia has set the Indonesian economy back ten years, the Yogyakarta Christian Communication Forum reports. The Central Bureau of Statistics recorded almost 80 million people living in poverty. Prices have doubled as a result of the crisis, GNP per capita has been more than halved, and unemployment has soared to 30 million people. It is estimated that the number of poor may peak at 120 million. One consequence has been a surge in rioting, looting, rape and arson. In the first eight months over a hundred Christian churches in Indonesia were attacked.
