The fact that so much of today's staggering debt was irresponsibly lent and irresponsibly borrowed would matter less if the consequences of such folly were falling on its perpetrators. Yet now, when the party is over and the bills are coming in, it is the poor who are being asked to pay . Allowing world economic problems to be taken out on the growing minds and bodies of young children is the antithesis of all civilized behaviour.
Nothing can justify it.
And it shames and diminishes us all. For years now, the consequences of the global debt crisis have fallen most heavily on the young, particularly on children in the 38 countries listed, which are poor, highly indebted and have been in desperate need of relief since the crisis began in 1982. The Highly Indebted Poor Country Initiative, or HIPC, was launched under the leadership of the World Bank and IMF at the end of 1996, with the goal of returning to solvency such severely impoverished countries with unsustainable debt burdens. As this publication goes to press, leaders of some of the wealthiest creditor countries are preparing to meet to discuss, among other issues, reforming and speeding the HIPC process. This is a hopeful sign.