Debt Relief Bill Signed; ELCA, Other Churches Play Significant Role

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- President Clinton signed into law Nov. 6 a bill that provides $435 million to cancel international debts of as many as 33 of the world's most impoverished countries. Many churches and related organizations -- including the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) -- were part of an effort to secure the funds through the U.S. Congress. The U.S. campaign is called, "Jubilee 2000/USA."
The $435 million was included in a $14.9 billion foreign aid bill. The debt relief portion of the bill also authorized the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to release $800 million from the sale of its gold for multilateral debt relief, according to the Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs (LOGA), the ELCA's federal public policy agency based in Washington, D.C.
"By fully funding our commitment to debt relief, the bill supports this historic effort to give these poorest countries a critical opportunity to effect reform while using funds to reduce poverty and provide basic health care and education for their people," Clinton said.
"By lifting the weakest, poorest among us, we lift all the rest of us as well," he added. Clinton was joined in a White House East Room ceremony by a large group of religious leaders, representatives of non-governmental organizations and labor unions, advocates for Africa and members of Congress.
"I expect that many people of faith now celebrating the victory of the Jubilee campaign will be pointing to it for years to come," said the Rev. Mark B. Brown, assistant director for international affairs and human rights, LOGA. "As we face the next challenges on Capitol Hill, particularly securing sufficient funding for reducing hunger, canceling debt and combating HIV/AIDS in Africa, this victory will serve as an enduring witness to the power of prayer and the importance of informed advocacy and effective coalition building."
The Rev. David M. Beckmann, an ELCA pastor and president of Bread for the World, said the legislation may signal other possibilities. Bread for the World, Washington, D.C., lobbies elected officials on behalf of hungry people worldwide and is a Jubilee 2000 advocate.
"If we can win a sustained shift in our government's priorities, I think we would cut world hunger and poverty in half by 2015," he told the Associated Press. "Wouldn't that be a great day of jubilee?"
The Jubilee campaign is based on biblical passages in Leviticus which call for a "Year of Jubilee" every 50 years to eliminate debts and proclaim liberty to all inhabitants. Among those credited with the idea to cancel debts of the world's poorest nations are Pope John Paul II and former Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa.
Since 1997, the ELCA has supported Jubilee 2000. Voting members at the 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution supporting international debt relief. That resolution also affirmed concern for the alleviation of poverty and hunger in poor nations and initiatives that "sustain the earth." The ELCA's social statement on economic life, "Sufficient, Sustainable Livelihood for All," adopted in 1999, specifically expressed support for international debt relief.
The ELCA worked through LOGA to support debt-relief legislation. Lutheran World Relief (LWR) and several other religious denominations and organizations supported Jubilee 2000. LWR is the overseas relief and development ministry of the ELCA and The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod.
On April 9, an estimated 6,000 people representing many denominations took part in a Jubilee 2000 Rally for Debt Relief in Washington, D.C. The ELCA was a rally organizer and sponsor. The following day as many as 1,000 people, most of them rally participants, met with members of Congress to push for support of debt relief legislation.
The signing of the bill with funds designated for debt relief doesn't end the work of the advocates, Brown said.
"We will need to come back to Congress next year to ask for $375 million needed over two years to fulfill the $920 million pledge President Clinton made at the G7 economic summit in Cologne in1999," he said. The $375 million, along with funds allocated last year for debt relief and this week's $435 million allocation, "helps to leverage more than $28 billion globally for debt relief for 33 eligible countries, Brown added. ___ More information on Jubilee2000 is available at http://www.loga.org on LOGA's Web site.

Images from the Nov. 6 signing are available at
http://www.elca.ORG/co/news/images.debtbill.html
on the ELCA Web site.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html