https://turndebtintohope.caritas.org/g20-faith-leaders-around-globe-urge-heads-of-government-to-end-debt-crisis/

The letter, signed by 82 leaders of faith communities across 35 countries, notes that more than 50 governments “are spending more on servicing foreign debts than on basic public services and infrastructure”.

This means countries are “diverting resources from their people to instead pay extortionate interest demands from external creditors”.

The letter comes as G20 heads of government meet in Johannesburg between 22-23 November and during the Jubilee year the Catholic Church is marking in 2025, a moment associated with the relief of debts since Old Testament times.

The religious leaders, from countries including South Africa, Cambodia, Bangladesh and the US, say in the letter:

“Amongst many of our communities, millions of children are unable to complete their schooling as teachers are going unpaid. Countless families are unable to access essential medical treatments as public health spending budgets are slashed.”

The faith leaders – who include cardinals, bishops and leaders of religious congregations, as well as representatives of different faiths – argue that “practical steps” exist for the G20 to tackle the crisis, such as suspending demands for debt payments “while negotiations take place”.

Reforms should also ensure private creditors take part in talks alongside governments and international financial institutions, and should prevent public money from being used to “bail out” private creditors who currently refuse to participate in negotiations.

The faith leaders’ letter warns that “when the hopes of so many communities are dashed because their governments are opting to default on their development rather than defaulting on unjust and unpayable debts, the whole world suffers greater inequality, instability and poverty.”

This “does not need to be the case”, say the religious leaders, with the letter urging heads of government to “ensure that all people can enjoy the hope of this Jubilee”.

The full letter and list of signatories can be found below.

Dear distinguished heads of government of G20 states,

We are leaders of faith communities from across the world. Amongst many of our communities, millions of children are unable to complete their schooling as teachers are going unpaid. Countless families are unable to access essential medical treatments as public health spending budgets are slashed.

This is because of a crisis in which more than fifty countries are spending more on servicing foreign debts than on basic public services and infrastructure: diverting resources from their people to instead pay extortionate interest demands from external creditors.

Many of us wrote to your finance ministers earlier this year, urging them to play their part in helping to end this crisis. Now, as you gather in Johannesburg as leaders of the G20 group of nations, we write to urge you to show the leadership necessary to do the same.

As some of the most powerful people on earth, you are blessed with an extraordinary opportunity to help to “Turn Debt into Hope”. And this is the moment to begin such work: the late Pope Francis proclaimed this year to be a ‘Jubilee year’, one which, since Old Testament times, has been a moment for resetting and relieving debts.

Practical steps exist for you to take that would help to act on this Jubilee call and so end the unnecessary suffering caused by this crisis and help to increase stability in countless communities. These include:

• Championing a debt cancellation framework that brings debt payments down to a genuinely affordable level, suspends debt payments while negotiations take place, and offers debtors assurances of sufficient debt relief before they apply;
• Passing legislation in key jurisdictions to ensure private lenders participate in debt cancellation talks;
• Ending the injustice of public money being used to ‘bail out’ private creditors who currently refuse to participate in fair and timely restructuring for countries in debt crisis;
• Reforming international financial institutions by ensuring that debtor countries have proper representation and that debt sustainability assessments and policy conditions centre human and environmental rights;
• Supporting efforts to create a ‘Borrowers’ Platform’ that will strengthen coordination and best practice-sharing between debtor countries;
• Supporting the creation of a UN Debt Convention to agree rules on resolving debt crises, responsible lending and borrowing and the establishment of a public global debt registry so that all lenders and borrowing governments are held accountable.

Our faiths teach us that when one person is suffering, we all suffer as a human family. By extension, when the hopes of so many communities are dashed because their governments are opting to default on their development rather than defaulting on unjust and unpayable debts, the whole world suffers greater inequality, instability and poverty.

This does not need to be the case – and you have the opportunity to play a significant role in changing it. The costs that the world’s poorest people are paying for the global debt crisis show that the global debt crisis does not just represent an economic failure, but also a moral failure. We urge you at your meeting in Johannesburg and in the weeks to come to begin to take the steps to end this crisis and ensure that all people can enjoy the hope of this Jubilee.

With hope,