Thousands of paper chains tell G8 leaders to drop debt

|PIC1|Campaigners from Jubilee Debt Campaign formed a giant white band around Parliament Square in central London on Thursday to call on world leaders to 'Drop the Debt', ahead of the G8 meeting in Japan next month.

A total of 10,969 paper chain links saying 'Drop the Debt' in English and Japanese have been signed around the UK in recent weeks, as activists marked ten years of debt campaigning in the UK.

After forming the white band, more than 15 bags of chains were delivered to International Development Minister Gareth Thomas at the Department for International Development.

Jubilee campaigners urged Thomas to cancel all the unpayable poor country debt that prevents countries from meeting their human rights obligations, and cancel or issue a moratorium on debt repayments for all poor countries experiencing the food crisis. They also stated that all climate change funds to help developing countries mitigate the impact of climate change or adapt to low carbon technology should come in the form of grants not loans.

The campaigners then made their way to the Japanese Embassy on Piccadilly where they presented a bag of chains and a certificate for the Japanese Prime Minister to the G8 representative at the embassy.

Nick Dearden, Director of Jubilee Debt Campaign, who formed part of the white band, said: "At a time when developing countries are experiencing the most serious effects of climate change, food and oil price rises, they are still paying the rich world five times more in debt repayments than they receive in aid.

"Debt is a central obstacle to poor countries' fight against poverty, yet world leaders are actually proposing more loans to deal with the environmental and economic problems the world faces.

"Dropping the debt is more critical then ever before, but we also need to make sure we don't solve the problems of today by creating a worse crisis tomorrow."

The Jubilee Debt Campaign is formed of a number of humanitarian and anti-poverty charities, including Christian Aid.