Photo: Kenyans protest against the finance bill, Nairobi, June 2023. © Associated Press/Brian Inganga
A message from Heidi Chow
Executive Director of Debt Justice
@debtjustice @hidschow
As we come to the end of the year, I can’t help but reflect on how far we’ve come. During the lead up to the general election, we made sure that all party leaders and MP candidates heard our demands for debt justice.
With your help, we ramped up our campaigns through media stories, punchy petitions, fresh social media content, impactful stunts and powerful rallies. With a change of government comes new opportunities, and we are responding to every chance for change. Thanks to your campaigning, we managed to win a commitment in the Labour party manifesto to ‘tackle unsustainable debt’. Now they are in power we intend to hold them to that promise.
Another big opportunity coming up is the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year in 2025. Jubilee is a biblical concept that calls for liberation, justice and debt cancellation. We are excited to join with global debt campaigners – of all faiths and none – to thrust the call for debt cancellation back into the global limelight in 2025. Lower-income countries are in the biggest debt crisis for 30 years and our solidarity and action are needed more than ever. Find out more on page 3.
Winning debt justice is something we can all be a part of. Every action you take and every donation you give powers our campaigns forward – making more wins possible and getting us closer to debt justice. If you can do one more thing this year, then please support our big fundraising appeal next week. From 3-10 December all donations to us via the Big Give are matched – meaning your impact is doubled!
Winning debt justice is something we can all be part of. Every action you take and every donation you give powers our campaigns forward.
Thank you for your support and your passion for justice this year. Together we can have an even bigger impact in 2025.
Cancel the Debt: Jubilee 2025
2025 will be a Jubilee Year – 25 years after the successful Jubilee 2000 campaign, there will be another chance for campaigners around the world to put the debt crisis at the top of the agenda.
In the Catholic Church, Jubilee years are declared every 25 years by the Pope, inspired by the biblical concept of Jubilee as a time when debts were cancelled and slaves freed. Pope Francis has set out his vision for Jubilee 2025 where rich countries should cancel debts, not out of generosity but justice. But Jubilee 2025 will not be limited to the Catholic Church, as campaigners of all faiths and none are making plans to campaign together for debt cancellation.
Debt relief could lead to 17 million people gaining access to clean drinking water, 5 million more children attending school, and over 59,000 children and mothers’ lives being saved in lower-income countries.
The debt crisis today
The timing could not be more urgent. Lower-income countries are deep in the biggest debt crisis for 30 years. Thirty-four African countries are spending more on debt payments to foreign lenders than healthcare or education. Debt relief could lead to 17 million people gaining access to clean drinking water, 5 million more children attending school, and over 59,000 children and mothers’ lives being saved in lower-income countries.
Protesters at the World Social Forum in Kenya, 2007.
Existing arrangements are failing. Ghana, Sri Lanka, Suriname and Zambia all applied for debt relief, but have been given inadequate debt cancellation. Others, like Kenya and Pakistan, continue to pay their mountainous debts, in the face of growing protests on the streets.
The austerity measures have had a deep impact on the lives of people in Suriname. They sent the country into political, economic and social chaos, with strikes and uprisings. Healthcare has collapsed, medicines are scarce, and operating rooms empty for a lack of materials and of qualified personnel. This is the new form of colonialism.
Sharda Ganga Surinamese civil society leader
A key moment to campaign
This is the context in which communities and debt justice organisations around the world are coming together to demand action. Right now, we are planning how to make the most of this moment with our partners in every continent. By joining our voices with people and communities affected in lower-income countries, we will force world leaders to take notice.
There will be critical opportunities for change during the Jubilee Year. The UN’s Financing for Development conference in June-July 2025 will be the culmination of a UN process in which lower-income countries have a real say – and could be the moment when a new fairer global debt system takes shape.
‘Bags of Debt’ outside the Bank of England, October 2023.
Sharda Ganga, debt campaigner and Director of Projekta in Suriname.
Meanwhile, pressure is growing in the UK for the new government to pass legislation to make private creditors agree to fair amounts of debt cancellation. The new government has pledged to make addressing the debt crisis a priority.
Jubilee 2000
Campaigning around the last Jubilee Year, 25 years ago, showed what we can achieve by campaigning together. In 1998, tens of thousands of people took to the streets around the world to demand that rich countries drop the debt. In Birmingham, 70,000 people joined hands to form a human chain around world leaders meeting for the G8 summit.
World leaders were forced to take action, and the UK played a key role in hosting the G8 Summit in Gleneagles where large-scale debt cancellation was announced in 2005. The UK later took the key step of passing legislation in 2010 to prevent private lenders from using the British courts to avoid taking responsibility.
Although $130 billion of lower-income countries’ debt was cancelled, which made a significant impact, our proposals for preventing future debt crises from recurring weren’t prioritised by governments at the time – that’s why this time around we want to see long-term solutions.
Let’s make 2025 massive
Our supporters, like you, were at the core of the movement in 2000, standing in solidarity alongside communities in lower-income countries. We will be stepping up our campaigning to make 2025 the turning point for the current debt crisis, just as Jubilee 2000 was for the last one. But this time, any action taken must prevent the next debt crisis, as well as solve this one.
Let’s come together in 2025 to raise our voices and demand debt cancellation. Watch this space for opportunities to get involved in the global campaign.
Debt protest outside the Bank of England in March 1999.
Voices from the frontline: Justine Kapanga Debt and protest in Kenya
Kenya has been experiencing political instability since June, when the government proposed a new Finance Bill. This bill included very, very oppressive policies – new taxes and raising VAT on common, daily commodities. We knew life would be unbearable for citizens if the bill was passed.
Since 2010, Kenya has been borrowing from two big development banks to pay back its private lenders – the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Our debt has really accumulated. These two banks were also the biggest advisors in drafting this controversial bill.
News of the Finance Bill did not go down well with citizens. We came out in large numbers to occupy the streets – people travelled from all over the country and protesters even occupied the parliament chambers in Nairobi City. We demanded that the IMF and the World Bank cancel Kenya’s debts, which lay behind the oppressive Finance Bill.
We went to the streets for three consecutive weeks and the pressure really increased. It was traumatising at times; I witnessed police brutality first-hand. We were really trying to drive the message that the IMF and World Bank should exit Kenya – and
other countries in the global south suffering from the debt crisis.
After three weeks of demonstrations, the government not only dropped the Finance Bill, they also dissolved the cabinet! But the fight is not over – because our main goal was to kick the IMF and World Bank out of Kenya and the global south, and to have them cancel the debt. Their role in bailing out the private lenders who have trapped Kenya in debt has forced us into this crisis. All Kenya’s debts with these private lenders are overseen by UK law – so a debt justice law in the UK would go a long way to us getting debt cancelled too.
Since the protests, we’ve continued to organise. What happened in Kenya has inspired debt activists across the world – we’ve seen similar protests spread across Nigeria and Uganda. It’s really a movement now, and a starting point for ending the debt crisis in all global south countries.
Kapanga
Justine Kapanga, Debt for Climate activist, Kenya.
Election 2024 – our campaign for a debt justice law
As soon as the election was called, Debt Justice supporters sprang into action to ensure our demands for lower-income country debt cancellation were heard loud and clear.
Over 5,000 of you signed the petition calling on party leaders to commit to a new debt justice law. Our Election Squad activists put questions direct to candidates at hustings events and made a splash in their local papers, ensuring that the debt crisis was on the radar of future MPs.
Our stunt outside private lender BlackRock’s offices hit the headlines in June, making it into The Times. But we didn’t stop there – our research made waves when The Guardian reported that debt payments by countries most vulnerable to climate crisis have soared to the highest point in more than 30 years.
This powerful campaigning has already had a big impact – when
the Labour Party published their manifesto, we were delighted to see a commitment to “tackle unsustainable debt”. Now they’re in power, we have a big opportunity to hold them to this promise.
This is a big step forward that wouldn’t have been possible without the actions of Debt Justice supporters – but we still have a long way to go. Since the election you’ve kept the pressure up. Thousands of you have signed Ghanaian debt campaigner Bernard Anaba’s open letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, calling on him to make good his pre-election pledge to tackle the debt crisis.
And thousands of you helped make sure your MP came to our event in parliament by emailing their offices. Thanks to you, we made sure the global debt crisis was one of the first things new MPs heard about. We won’t let up until they’ve committed to real action to end the debt crisis for lower-income countries.
Heidi Chow, Executive Director of Debt Justice with Annalise Dodds MP, Minister for Development, Sam Bickersteth MP and colleagues from Christian Aid, in parliament.
Together Against Debt –
People’s Manifesto
When the general election was called earlier this year, we knew we had to raise our voices to push the UK’s personal debt crisis up the political agenda and win commitments that would ensure whichever party was elected took action.
10 million people, that’s one in seven of us, are now weighed down by unmanageable debts. This huge debt mountain has built up during the cost of living crisis. Energy debt, rent arrears, credit card debt, it’s all piled up, leaving millions worried about a knock at the door, or the next bill to come through the letter box. Sadly, debt is a major cause of mental ill health in the UK, and over half of people in debt also have a mental health problem.
A home, energy, food, water, are a basic human need. No-one should be able to grow wealthy on the backs of those who cannot afford to live.
Michael, Gloucestershire
Over the past three years Debt Justice has been working with people who know what it’s like to feel the stress of being in debt, bringing people together to campaign in groups in local communities as part of our Together Against Debt project. With the election round the corner, we worked closely with people from our groups in Manchester and London, as well as surveying thousands of people nationally to develop a set of demands for the next government. Our Together Against Debt – People’s Manifesto was launched in March this year and has three key demands:
Manchester Together Against Debt group meeting, June 2024.
• Fair debt solutions so everyone can have a fresh start.
• An end to people being pushed into debt just to pay for essentials
• To be treated with dignity, and protected from harassment by creditors, debt collectors and bailiffs.
Campaigners took these demands to every candidate running across the UK. From Lands End to John o’ Groats, we emailed candidates, asked questions at hustings and got the word out in local media about the real impact of what it means to live in debt.
And we’re already seeing some progress! In the Autumn budget, the Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced changes to reduce debts for people
Outside parliament for the launch of the People’s Manifesto on Debt, 2024
who are receiving universal credit. We know that by campaigning together we’ve got debt on the agenda and made it clear that people want action, not words.
Find out more at: www.debtjustice.org.uk/manifesto
3 – 10 December is
We have big plans to power up our campaigning for the 2025 Jubilee Year, but we can only put them into action with you on our side.
For one week only, the Big Give Christmas Challenge gives you the chance to turbo charge your support by doubling your donation – and the impact you can have!
Turn: £20 into £40 / £50 into £100 / £100 into £200
We’ve already come so far since we launched our campaign for a debt justice law. Now let’s make 2025 a year to remember.
Visit www.debtjustice.org.uk/biggive to make your donation
Only donations made online between midday on 3 and 10 December will be eligible for match funding – so make sure you don’t miss out!
Debt advice
We don’t provide debt advice, please contact the organisations below if you need debt advice or support.
Advice:
Christians Against Poverty
www.capuk.org
Tel: 0800 328 0006
Citizens Advice
www.citizensadvice.org.uk
Tel: 0808 223 1133
StepChange
www.stepchange.org
Tel: 0800 138 1111
National Debt Line
www.nationaldebtline.org
Tel: 0808 808 4000
STAY CONNECTED
Order campaigning materials and more editions of Drop It! at: debtjustice.org.uk/materials
Support:
These organisations can help with the worry and stress that often accompanies problem debts.
www.samaritans.org
Tel: 116 123 www.mind.org.uk
Tel: 0300 123 3393
You can also search free and independent advice agencies in your community using: www.advicelocal.uk and advicefinder.turn2us.org.uk
ABOUT DEBT JUSTICE
Registered Charity no. 1055675 Company limited by guarantee no. 3201959 @debtjustice Debt Justice debtjustice.org.uk info@debtjustice.org.uk
We are a campaigning organisation dedicated to ending unjust debt and building a fair economy for all, here in the UK and across the world.
Debt Justice, Oxford House, Derbyshire Street, London, E2 6HG, United Kingdom
‘Tis the season for a new debt justice law!
This Christmas, let’s remind the government of its pre-election pledge to “tackle unsustainable debt”.
We’re in the biggest debt crisis in thirty years. Every day, millions of people around the world are denied justice –including 5 million children who could attend school if debt was cancelled.
2025 presents a big opportunity for action. It’s a Jubilee Year – which means it’s a pivotal moment to put our demands at the top of the political agenda. And major international meetings will be key opportunities
for us to demand debt cancellation.
There’s rarely been a more urgent moment to stand with our allies across the globe. In the words of Zambian activist Precious Kalombwana:
“We are calling global north countries to stand with us, to fight with us, to demand debt cancellation, to demand debt justice.”
Sign the Christmas card to Foreign Secretary David Lammy, asking him to deliver debt cancellation and make the Jubilee Year count by introducing a new debt justice law in 2025.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy
Happy Christmas!
Will you make 2025 count for debt justice?
I’m calling on the government to act on its pledge to “tackle unsustainable debt” by introducing a debt justice law in 2025.
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Ho-ho-hoping for a debt justice law in 2025!
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The Rt Hon David Lammy MP
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