An online resource on the topic of Debt in the developing world countries with an Islamic perspective. Produced by Islamic Relief and Jubliee Debt Campaign.
Debt and Climate Change is the third briefing in a series. Each is produced by Jubilee Debt Campaign, along with different partners, and explores the impact of debt on specific issues and people. The briefing paper addresses the issue of Debt and Climate Change from a variety of perspectives. It is available to download from the Jubilee Debt Campaign website: please go to - www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/climate
Much of this debt has been termed ‘unjust’ provided to dictators or oppressive regimes by lenders who knew it would never reach the people or projects for which it was intended.
• Firstly, a Muslim maintains that overall sovereignty of creation lies with God • God has appointed human beings as His stewards , duty bound to struggle to maintain the balance in the Universe; to establish justice and harmony within themselves, and between all humans and the rest of creation. • To reverse discord, and challenge injustice and inequality, each human being has to cultivate and harvest a charitable disposition . • Selfless charity and a sense of service should be ready to mobilise the Muslim community to respond to those who are suffering the world over.
Conversely the debt crisis, and the resultant structural adjustment programmes, has forced countries to strip down their social ‘safety nets’ and prevented them from providing their populations with basic needs such as public health and education systems. For example, Ecuador spends 47 per cent of its government’s income on servicing debt and only 12 per cent on education and just 7 per cent on healthcare.
Much of this debt has been termed ‘unjust’ provided to dictators or oppressive regimes by lenders who knew it would never reach the people or projects for which it was intended.
Nigeria, for example, originally borrowed less than $17 billion, repaid back over $20 billion, but, in 2005 still owed about $32 billion. Photo: Helen Seignior/ World Vision
It is clear that on the subject of debt, Islam can add religious thinking to the ethical and moral debates. What Islamic thinking supports often mirrors what campaigns such as the Jubilee Debt Campaign are also calling for. Muslims are therefore encouraged to: Speak up about injustice and inequality: Islam encourages people to reflect on their individual and global responsibilities in the hope that ethical behaviour will create ethical political and economic systems. In essence, Islam seeks to encourage people to reflect upon their individual and global responsibilities, as caring neighbours, in the hope that ethical behaviour will result in ethical political and economic systems. By sharing this vision, advocated by Islam and aspired to by millions of Muslims worldwide, an important, and for some, a startling fact, should emerge: the values of Muslims and of those millions of non-Muslims who work tirelessly for social justice are practically identical on so many issues; there is much more that unites people than divides.
Jubilee Debt Campaign would like to thank Practical Action, World Development Movement and WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), our partners in the research for Debt and Climate Change .