Overview

Haiti’s gov­ern­ment had been divert­ing $1 mil­lion a week from its trea­sury to the World Bank and other pub­lic inter­na­tional finan­cial insti­tu­tions, to repay loans that were mostly given to past dic­ta­tors. IJDH joined with other orga­ni­za­tions fight­ing for can­cel­la­tion of this unjust debt by writ­ing Op-Eds, press releases and action alerts, prepar­ing cam­paign mate­ri­als and pro­vid­ing Con­gres­sional brief­ings, lead­er­ship and legal analy­sis. On June 30, the Banks announced the can­cel­la­tion of over $1.2 bil­lion in debt, free­ing up that $1 million/week for health­care, schools, and other national pri­or­i­ties. Mov­ing for­ward, IJDH and BAI will work with grass­roots groups to ensure that the newly avail­able funds will ben­e­fit Haiti’s poor majority.

Read more about the advo­cacy cam­paign for debt can­cel­la­tion here: action alerts, fact sheets, activist toolk­its, etc.

Cur­rent Actions

• Debt Relief for Haiti & Other Impov­er­ished Coun­tries — March 9, 2010
• Haiti Debt Relief: Tes­ti­mony of Melinda St. Louis — March 4, 2010
• Rep. Max­ine Waters Sign-On Let­ter in Sup­port of Debt Can­cel­la­tion — Jan­u­ary 27, 2010
• Mea­sure Up: Rule Out Debt to Fight Global Poverty — June 5, 2008
• Haiti’s Sup­port­ers in Con­gress Need Your Help! — Feb­ru­ary 12, 2008

Recent News

• Trea­sury Under Sec­re­tary Brainard Joins Inter-American Devel­op­ment Bank to Mobi­lize Grants for Haiti — Sep­tem­ber 30, 2010
• IMF can­cels $268 mil­lion Haiti debt — July 22, 2010
• IMF for­gives Haiti’s $268 mil­lion debt to the fund — July 21, 2010
• IMF Exec­u­tive Board Can­cels Haiti’s Debt and Approves New Three-Year Pro­gram to Sup­port Recon­struc­tion and Eco­nomic Growth — July 21, 2010
• Haiti debt pay­ment sus­pended — May 29, 2010
• World Bank can­cels remain­ing Haiti debt — May 28, 2010
• Pres­i­dent Obama Signs Debt Relief Bill for Haiti — April 30, 2010
• Pres­i­dent Obama Signs Haiti Debt Relief Bill Authored by Con­gress­woman Waters into Law — April 28, 2010
• UN Agency For­gives Debt Owed by Disaster-Hit Haiti — April 23, 2010
• US law­mak­ers agree to can­cel Haiti’s debt — April 15, 2010
• Tai­wan approves debt reduc­tion pro­posal for Haiti — April 14, 2010
• Con­gress approves debt relief mea­sure for Haiti — April 14, 2010
• Amer­i­cas Devel­op­ment Bank For­gives Much of Haiti’s Debt — March 22, 2010
• Devel­op­ment bank for­gives $479 mil­lion Haiti debt — March 22, 2010
• US wants IDB to can­cel Haiti’s $447-m debt — March 20, 2010
• Obama Admin­is­tra­tion Says Near Deal on Haiti Debt — March 19, 2010
• U.S. Sen­ate Approves Mea­sure Encour­ag­ing Relief of Haiti Debt — March 5, 2010
• Sub­com­mit­tee Approves Mea­sure to Can­cel Haiti’s Debt — March 4, 2010
• Bill To Can­cel Haiti’s Debt Clears House Hur­dle — March 4, 2010
• Break­ing News: U.S. Gov. Calls for Full Haiti Debt Relief! — Feb­ru­ary 5, 2010
• Sec­re­tary Gei­th­ner Voices Sup­port for Inter­na­tional Debt Relief for Haiti, Financ­ing of Recov­ery Through Grants — Feb­ru­ary 5, 2010
• Con­gress­woman Max­ine Waters Intro­duces Leg­is­la­tion to Can­cel Haiti’s Debt — Feb­ru­ary 4, 2010
• 94 Con­gressper­sons Urge Total Haiti Debt Can­cel­la­tion — Feb­ru­ary 3, 2010
• The West owes Haiti a bailout. And it would be a hand-back, not a hand­out — Jan­u­ary 31, 2010
• New Evan­gel­i­cal Group Calls for Haiti Debt Can­cel­la­tion — Jan­u­ary 24, 2010
• Haiti and Debt Can­cel­la­tion Leg­is­la­tion — Jan­u­ary 14, 2010