Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) Ghana has called for the cancellation of debts of poor countries as part of the effort to end unsustainable and illegitimate debts with conditions attached.
It has urged rich countries to pay their climate debts to support communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis and charged developed countries to change outdated financial systems on fair and transparency under the United Nations debt frame work.
According to GCAP – Ghana, debt cancellation cannot be done in isolation hence the rich nations as well as multi corporations must help to curbs inequalities, adding that rich countries must support public services including healthcare, education and social protection.
The National Coordinator and Co – Coordinator, Messrs Ben Lartey and Kenneth Nana Amoateng made the call on the campaign, Cancel the Debt, Change the System, clubbed “We Stand with Billion, Not Billionaires” in a move to accelerate a transition for countries through equitability, biodiversity, fossil fuels among others for community growth.
They said its only five years left to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as poverty have not been adequately addressed and however called for the need to fight injustice and build a world of equitability to provide hope for the billions of people in the year of the jubilee.
“The unjust economic systems have created inequalities among countries thus a new financial framework be instituted to prevent future debt crises, end austerity and creates a progressive tax system, tackle also climate change,” they noted.
One in three countries faces catastrophe debt crisis saying, low-income countries are forced to pay billions to wealthy creditors at huge interest rates as the World Bank IMF impose further austering measures on poor countries which impacts negatively particularly on women and marginalized groups.
GCAP is a network of civil society organizations across the world working to end poverty, inequalities, climate change among other challenges.
Report by Ben LARYEA
