Debt relief is desperately needed by the world's poorest countries. The governments of these countries have been forced to make drastic cuts in essential human services such as health and education in order to make payments on their debts. In Zambia, Niger and Uganda, government spending on debt service payments is greater than government spending on health and education combined. Tanzania spends four times as much money on debt payments as it does on health and education combined. Under these circumstances this transfer of wealth from the world's poorest countries to the world's most wealthy countries is simply immoral.
Debt relief is a moral imperative.
Many of the debts owed by poor countries were accumulated during the Cold War, and many are the result of loans to corrupt dictators who are no longer in power. The debt of the Congo was accumulated during the oppressive rule of Mobutu. Debts held by neighbors of South Africa were accumulated in part to protect those nations from the apartheid regime. It is unjust and immoral to expect the impoverished people of these countries to pay back these debts. Thank you for considering these actions.