[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 6]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 8941]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        DEBT CANCELLATION OP-ED

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                            HON. GWEN MOORE

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 13, 2008

  Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. Madam Speaker, this op-ed, written by 
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, appeared in the Baltimore Sun last week. 
Archbishop Tutu's words bring attention to our efforts to promote debt 
relief here in the House, such as passage of the Jubilee Act last 
month, and underscore the need for this bill to be passed into law.

                 [From the Baltimore Sun, May 7, 2008]

               Debt Cancellation a Victory for the World

                           (By Desmond Tutu)

       Last month, the House of Representatives showed leadership 
     in the fight against global poverty by passing the Jubilee 
     Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation, 
     which would extend lifesaving debt cancellation to more poor 
     nations around the globe.
       Too many of the world's poor children needlessly starve or 
     go without education because too many impoverished nations--
     even after the laudable debt relief provided to date--are 
     still funneling scarce resources to multilateral banks 
     instead of paying for needs at home.
       The world community has found crushing debt to be akin to a 
     modern-day apartheid, and has responded with debt 
     cancellation. Unjust debt leaves developing nations at the 
     behest of the powerful. Shall we let the children of Africa 
     and Asia die of curable disease, prevent them from going to 
     school and limit their opportunities for meaningful work--all 
     to payoff unjust and illegitimate loans made to their 
     forefathers?
       When I think of the crisis of international debt, I think 
     of my African neighbor, Lesotho. Many of Lesotho's people 
     cannot afford basic nourishment. The AIDS epidemic has 
     plagued the nation, but needed medicine is out of reach for 
     too many.
       Lesotho's situation shows how debt and extreme poverty 
     create a crisis for children. Children's wards in that 
     nation's hospitals are filled with anxious mothers 24 hours a 
     day, administering medicine and caring for their children as 
     a nurse or doctor might do in my country of South Africa. 
     They have no choice. Lesotho has only 6 pediatricians looking 
     after its 800,000 children.
       One-third of Lesotho's children are not in school. 
     Meanwhile, Lesotho's debt repayments equal its entire 
     education budget. Instead of investing in its people, health 
     and development, Lesotho--a nation of 2 million people with 
     external debt of $647 million--sends debt payments to the 
     developed world.
       Millions of the world's poorest people suffer hunger and 
     illness as desperately needed resources flow out of their 
     countries in the form of debt payments. Yet many countries, 
     like Lesotho, are not eligible for debt relief because 
     current initiatives are not based on a country's level of 
     poverty or need.
       Much of this debt originates from loans made to corrupt and 
     oppressive regimes that did not benefit the population. As a 
     South African, I know firsthand the injustice of this 
     situation as our country continues to repay money that was 
     used to sustain the apartheid system and suppress the 
     movement for racial justice. The Jubilee Act calls for an 
     audit of the odious debts of countries such as South Africa 
     so that the question of whether this money is truly ``owed'' 
     can finally be addressed.
       The movement to cancel debt is an ongoing moral campaign 
     that joins religious leaders around the globe under the 
     biblical principle of Jubilee, which says that everything 
     belongs to God. My own Anglican communion has long supported 
     debt relief, calling the continued burden of debt upon the 
     poorest people of the world ``a moral scandal.''
       Christian evangelical organizations, including Baptist 
     World Alliance and the Salvation Army, have called on 
     President Bush to support the Jubilee Act. Pope Benedict XVI, 
     who made his first visit to the United States last month as 
     Congress voted on the Jubilee Act, has called for debt 
     cancellation for the poorest countries to be ``continued and 
     accelerated.''
       As the Senate now considers the Jubilee Act, it can do its 
     part to help ensure that Africans and Asians are able to use 
     their own resources for their own development. When success 
     comes on expanded debt cancellation, as it did with an end to 
     apartheid, this victory will not be ours alone but will 
     belong to the whole world.
       Desmond Tutu is archbishop emeritus of Cape Town, South 
     Africa.

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