A human rights approach to finance is crucial to address the legitimate demands that Lebanese people have expressed in the streets, says a UN Independent Expert on foreign debt and human rights.
Meeting Sustainable Development Goals to cut poverty and inequality requires large increases in public spending, but in many countries the opposite is happening.
Research by the Jubilee Debt Campaign indicates a major breach by the IMF of its own policies, with $93 billion of lending to highly indebted countries without any debt restructurings.
The vast majority of international loans in Africa are made under English law because it allows a cloak of secrecy over lending, says Christian Aid, so the buck stops with the UK Parliament to bring real transparency or continue to allow unjust debt to cripple developing countries.
Over fifty MPs from every party have written to the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, calling for action to strengthen transparency around loans to governments at this year’s G20 Finance Ministers meeting.
Emergency grants should be available to impoverished countries in response to disasters like Idai, especially those linked to the climate breakdown primarily caused by richer countries in the global North, says Jubilee Debt Campaign.