Online Event: Launch of Research Report on Debt, Corporate Capture and Climate justice

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Time and date: this event will take place on the 16th of April at 8.00 am ET; please find your local time HERE. The event will occur in simultaneous English, Arabic, and Spanish interpretations. 

Register: https://escr-net.ink/debt-event

Context:

Unsustainable debt is a central phenomenon of the current global economy that has deepened inequalities and further impoverished countries, especially in the South. A direct legacy of the colonial era, debt has become a powerful tool of economic imperialism through which Global North countries and corporate elites continue to control and profit from former colonies in the Global South. 

Before the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries in the south were already facing unsustainable debt threats. At the height of the pandemic, many countries resorted to further dangerous public borrowing to meet pandemic-related spending demands, mitigate and address ongoing impacts of climate change, revive economies, and address inequalities that deepened their debt crises. The unsustainable borrowing, which often comes with conditionalities, ushered in new heights of public debt, escalated debt repayment burdens, and put countries at higher risk of debt default while impacting their ability to fulfill their human rights obligations. This situation urgently warrants a paradigm shift in approaches to debt management.

Action: 

ESCR-Net and the University of Essex Human Rights Clinic collaborated in commissioning a study to look at the intersection of debt and corporate capture from a human rights perspective to strengthen our cohesive narrative, analysis, and demands on the ongoing unsustainable global debt crises and the influence of colonialism, powerful global corporations and wealthy individuals on borrowing policies and laws. The report was developed as part of a series of resources developed with our members, including a comic illustration launched last year and a report on the intersection of debt and corporate capture. The upcoming IMF/WB Spring Meetings, this event will act as a catalyst to think about shared demands, cohesive narrative and galvanize our collective advocacy ahead of the IMF/WB Spring Meetings by debanking and unpacking the intersection of debt and colonialism, corporate capture and the impacts on human rights and the climate crisis.

Speakers:

Wesam Ahmad - Al-Haq - Palestine.
Julieta Levin - Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales - CELS -Argentina.
Kristina Fried- Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH).
Mela Chiponda - Activist from Zimbabwe.
Mae Buenaventura- Asia Peoples Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD)-Philippines. 
Wael Gamal- Egyptian Institute for Personal Rights - Egypt.
Dan Owala- Peoples Health Movement- Kenya.
Dakota Anton & Malaika Nduko - Report co-authors 
Dr Koldo Casla - University of Essex

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