Calling for debt justice
As part of our reimagined vision of what “aid” could be, we campaign for structural change to tackle the permanent crisis of public finances across the global south.
The international debt system has been described as a colonial debt trap or “debtor’s prison”, a system that massively favours rich countries and big banks.
Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, big banks have continued to collect debt payments from the global south, ignoring calls from the World Bank, IMF and UN to offer debt relief. It’s time for them to stop.
The amount that African governments owe to companies like BlackRock, HSBC and JP Morgan could vaccinate the entire population three times over.
Zambia is one of the countries most affected, with 59% of its debt owed to big banks. Debt payments cost the Zambian government four times the amount it spends on healthcare each year, and three times what it spends on climate adaptation.
That’s why debt justice also means health justice and climate justice. Join us in demanding an end to the colonial debt trap today.
