Drop the Debt

The world’s poorest countries pay almost $23 million EVERY DAY to the rich world.
Jubilee Debt Campaign is demanding an end to the scandal of poor counrties paying money to the rich.

Various Jubilee organizations exist internationally working both independently and collectively with the shared goal of global debt cancellation for unjustly indebted countries. Jubilee 2000 was an international coalition movement in over 40 countries that called for cancellation of third world debt by the year 2000. The concept stems from the biblical idea of the year of Jubilee found in Leviticus. From the Jubilee 2000 movement individual Jubilee movements sprouted up throughout the world petitioning for 100% global debt cancellation.


The vision of Jubilee is, most fundamentally, about the need for right relationships between people and among nations. The crushing debt of impoverished nations represents a set of broken relationships between nations. But debt cancellation alone will not be sufficient in order to restore relations of justice in the global community, broader issues must be addressed and far-reaching changes must be enacted.

Jubilee calls for definitive cancellation of international debts and the restoration of right relationships between nations in these ways:

  1. Definitive debt cancellation of the international debt owed by countries burdened with high levels of human need and environmental distress which are unable to meet the basic needs of their people or achieve a level of sustainable development that ensures a decent quality of life;
  2. Definitive debt cancellation, in addition, of debts found to be illegitimate and odious, wherever they exist, through a just and equitable process not controlled by the creditors;
  3. Definitive debt cancellation that benefits countries’ impoverished majorities, is accountable to them and advances their authentic participation in determining the direction of their economies and societies;
  4. Definitive debt cancellation that is not externally conditioned on economic policy prescriptions, such as IMF-designed and imposed Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs);
  5. Acknowledgment of the responsibility of both lenders and borrowers and action to recover resources that were diverted by corrupt and undemocratic regimes, institutions and individuals;
  6. The emergence of global economic policies and trade rules that eradicate poverty promote sustainable human development and prevent recurring, destructive cycles of indebtedness.

Jubilee Oregon is focused on reducing poverty through reducing the crushing debt that many developing nations face, allowing them to instead focus on public investments needed to spur economic growth.

Back To Top