Who has the power to cancel these debts. They can provide financial resources to international agencies like the IMF and the World Bank and direct that the funds be used to write off poor countries' debts. They should require, however, that the debt be canceled in a way that benefits ordinary people and without conditions that lead to more poverty and environmental destruction. The contributions needed from wealthy nations to write off these debts would be based on this market value and, therefore, relatively small. While corruption remains a problem in many places, a growing number of poor countries have more democratic governments and active civic groups and non-governmental organizations working to hold those governments accountable.
Inaction is no solution.
That penalizes ordinary people, not the corrupt leaders. The real challenge is to ensure that the resources made available from debt relief are used for reducing poverty.