2025: The year we Cancel Debt, Choose Hope

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24 Jan 2025

This year, as we launch the Cancel Debt, Choose Hope campaign, campaigners and activists from all over the world are coming together in the biggest global movement for debt cancellation in twenty-five years.

This is a huge opportunity for action on the debt crisis – not in decades have so many organisations joined forces to get debt cancelled. And it couldn’t come a moment too soon, because right now we’re in the biggest global debt crisis in thirty years. 

Around the world, millions of people are being denied justice because their countries are trapped in unjust debt. Our research has shown that lower-income country debt payments have TREBLED over the last decade, and right now fifty-four countries are in crisis. That’s why today, alongside allies from Debt for Climate, Christian Aid, CAFOD and others, we took our debt cancellation demands direct to the Treasury, launched a joint petition and put out a public statement signed by organistions all over the UK.

Global action on debt couldn’t come a moment too soon. The crisis is already having a devastating impact on people’s lives. As Bernard Anaba in Ghana recently explained: 

“Public services are in crisis – pupils aren’t getting exercise books and some schools don’t even have chairs or desks for the children. Food prices have sky-rocketed and in hospitals, patients are asked to pay for medication that is meant to be free.” 

Over the last few years protests have rocked countries from Ghana to Sri Lanka, Kenya, Suriname, Zambia and beyond as activists and campaigners have fought back against the unjust debt that is trapping their countries in crisis.  

It’s going to be a huge year for the campaign – and the first Jubilee Year since the groundbreaking Drop the Debt campaign won $130bn of debt cancellation. For the first time in decades, the Catholic church is once again mobilising people globally to campaign on debt cancellation. It’s a moment for hope – where campaigners of all faiths and none are joining forces. And it’s coinciding with a series of key international meetings throughout the year which will give lower-income countries a big opportunity to force their priorities onto the agenda. The first UN Financing for Development conference in a decade, a G20 Summit hosted by South Africa and the UN climate talks in Brazil will all be critical moments for campaigners and lower-income country governments to force action on the debt crisis.  

This could be a pivotal moment for action on debt. As Zambian debt activist Precious Kalombwana so passionately outlined at our recent rally: 

“This is the opportunity to say how we are being affected – it is the opportunity for me and other activists that are fighting for debt cancellation and debt justice. We are calling out the global north countries to stand with us, to fight with us, to demand debt cancellation, to demand debt justice.” 

As campaigners and activists come together in this Jubilee Year, together we can stand in solidarity with activists around the world in demanding that world leaders support a new global debt framework and debt justice laws in the UK and elsewhere.  

Twenty-five years ago, debt campaigners forced action that wiped off $130bn of debt globally. We know it’s possible. Together, we can make 2025 the year for debt justice. 

Sign the global petition and together let’s show world leaders that now is the time for action on the debt crisis. 

Post expires on March 29th, 2025

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