14 October 2020
Dear Leaders of Governments, International Institutions and Lender Institutions,
COVID19 has turned our world upside down
The Covid19 pandemic has severely impacted on the health, safety and survival of hundreds of millions of people. Communities worldwide are being pushed deeper into poverty, precarious existence and inequality – with the massive loss of paid and self-employment and livelihoods and further limiting of access to food, water and sanitation, adequate housing, education, health service and other basic needs. It is estimated that 500 million more people could be pushed into poverty as a result of the pandemic and the economic downturn that it has exceedingly exacerbated. In all the regions of the world, violence against women, girls and LGTBI+ people has escalated in number and severity.
This is an unprecedented moment of intense multiple crises with CovidI19, the global economic recession, the care crisis and the escalating climate and ecological emergency. Despite the urgency and scale of human suffering, governments and the international community are failing to move into emergency mode for people and communities.
These conditions shine a strong light on the continuing debt problem that stands in the way of people’s survival, the fight against inequality, the realization of their human rights, sovereignty and the self determination of peoples, economic, gender and ecological justice, and the pursuit of a dignified life.
Over $300 billion is being spent annually by the global south for Public External Debt payments to bilateral and multilateral lenders such as the World Bank and IMF, private banks, speculators and investors in government bonds and securities. The debt problem is compounded by illicit financial flows also in the billions of dollars. This is money that is vitally needed for public investment on vital healthcare to fight Covid-19, economic and structural assistance to affected, vulnerable and marginalized individuals, families and communities, and building economies towards more just, equitable, climate resilient and sustainable systems…
Read more:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QjYs2IU6Zp8GYr45-H9PTjrddLsxUjzl/view?usp=sharing