Among themes running through the World Council of Churches' 8th Assembly was the need to forgive the external debt of the world's poorest, most indebted countries and substantial debt reduction for severely indebted, middle-income countries. The accelerating concentration of wealth for a few in the richest countries and the devastating decline in living standards in the poorest countries calls for correction along the lines of the ancient Sabbath and Jubilee cycles.
Recommendations are tough both on lenders and borrowers.
In particular, we need a new just process of arbitration for international debt cancellation, which insures that losses and gains are equally shared. Tough conditions should be imposed on debtor governments, but these must not be prerequisite for debt cancellation, the policy says. They must be determined and monitored by local community organizations, including churches and other representatives of civil society. About 200 persons attended one such hearing, and heard impassioned arguments for cancellation from both Africa and Europe. Some of these commodities come from Europe and America.