By: Mary Donahue
Celebration is in order after a huge victory for the principles of responsible lending and borrowing was won in Doha, Qatar at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) meetings held in the end of April. This round of UNCTAD meetings was crucial to the future vision and responsibilities of UNCTAD - and subsequently debt relief - as financial ministers and representatives from the around the world met to discuss the conference’s mandate, and thus set the course for its future work. UNCTAD has long been a leading forum for consensus building on debt relief initiatives, like HIPC and MDRI that have led to hundreds of billions of dollars in debt relief. But leading into the meetings, it was leaked that there were secret talks of eliminating debt and financial reform from the mandate, and it was clear that the battle to keep debt relief and principles of responsible lending and borrowing a priority would be hard fought.
Jubilee USA has been acting as an expert to UNCTAD since the body launched the Project to Promote Responsible Sovereign Lending and Borrowing in 2009. The Project seeks to develop internationally recognized principles to promote and reinforce responsible lending and borrowing and is a prime example of the truly global consensus work that UNCTAD has come to be known for. These principles, which Jubilee USA promotes both here in the US and internationally and which we released in our latest report the Responsible Lending and Borrowing Imperative, would help establish real solutions to the international debt crisis and would come from both the Global North and Global South. Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA, was hosted by UNCTAD to attend the Doha meetings as a civil society representative and to moderate a panel featuring 11 financial ministers and treasury heads from around the globe to speak in support of UNCTAD’s principles of responsible lending and borrowing.
In the week before the Doha meetings, however, it became apparent that keeping debt relief and the principles of responsible lending and borrowing as main features in UNCTAD’s mandate would be contentious. Negotiating documents that came to light indicated that some developed countries were seeking to weaken, or even eliminate, debt, financial reforms and further consensus building on the principles of responsible lending and borrowing from UNCTAD’s mandate. If these ideas were eliminated, it would be a huge blow to debt relief, development, and global economic justice measures.
Jubilee USA and other civil society groups met with key decision makers at the White House, Treasury and State Department before the Doha meetings and during the negotiations in Qatar to voice support and encourage the US to voice support for keeping UNCTAD’s mandate. When the meetings began, it seemed likely that there would be a strong North-South divide over the mandate, which would practically end the effectiveness of this body. But, with continued advocacy efforts from civil society to the US and a number of other developed nations, UNCTAD’s mandate was renewed for another four years and an important victory for economic justice and consensus building was won! The US’ leadership helped to produce a consensus accord that ultimately supports the President’s Global Development Plan. Jubilee USA wrote a thank you letter to President Obama for the Administration’s support and leadership in Doha for their efforts and support in consensus building and engagement.
The Doha Mandate, agreed upon by Global North and Global South alike, supports continued consensus building on issues of debt, financial reforms, and the principles of responsible lending and borrowing and looks toward “development-centered” growth. It is truly an inclusive document and a triumph, one that helps to create an international environment in which the world’s poor are put first and poverty alleviation is at the forefront of development initiatives.
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