Dialogue: Forgiving others' debts act of grace

The world is indeed a wonderful place, but still, sometimes, during a beautiful sunset or while shopping for luxury kitchenware, one's thoughts can turn to global matters.

Over dinner at fashionable restaurants, where people talk of their latest pay rise, promotion or love affair, the chat can easily tack to the business of what's wrong with the world - starvation, the ecology, war or the population explosion and then that old chestnut: what can we do to prevent an Armageddon that seems just around the corner?

Order another bottle of chardonnay and get over it? Or you could get involved or simply become aware: you'll certainly sleep better if you live in hope that there is some hope.

Which is where Jubilee 2000 comes in, a movement involving more than 65 countries that advocates a debt-free start to the new millennium through the cancellation of unpayable debts belonging to the world's poorest countries. If successful, it will benefit more than a billion people and, thus, us all.

Begun in 1990 by Martin Dent and Bill Peters, academics from Leeds University, their vision 10 years on is closer to becoming a reality. And why should that be of interest to regular folks, living regular lives, hoping to maintain a measure of obliviousness to the world's ghastliness? Because the world is smaller than it has ever been and we're no longer simply responsible for our own backyards.

Naturally teams of celebrities are involved, notably Bono, who says there needs to be a historic act of grace. Bob Geldof is in there, as is Muhammad Ali. Although it isn't just another cause celebre, a feelgood excuse for a concert. Jubilee 2000 means business.

And who wouldn't in the face of the facts? Try these ones on for size:

Live Aid raised $US200 million for African relief, yet sub-Saharan Africa owes that much in debt repayments every five days, spending more on reparations than it does on healthcare or education.

For every dollar received in Western grant aid, nine were demanded back on old loans.

One Filipino child is said to die every hour in a country where more than half the national budget is given over to paying just the interest on World Bank and IMF loans.

And, sure, detractors could raise all sorts of arguments. What constitutes a Third World country - sorry, developing nation? What about our debts? Who will the cancellation really help? And, how much say should the developed world have on an assisted country's conduct after the act of grace?

These are all valid questions, but wouldn't it be great if there was some alleviation of suffering - even if only a little?

The IMF and World Bank, which met in Prague this week, appear to be behind the scheme but say strings have to be attached to their beneficence or these situations will continue to arise.

But there are already so many conditions that the beholden nations can't satisfy them, their impoverished government machinery already stretched to the limit.

I agree that money shouldn't just be given over willy-nilly, but a mutually agreeable halfway point has to be found. One plan is to reward poor countries that abandon war and other conflicts with speedier debt relief, which, to my mind, is a highly acceptable form of blackmail.

And, yes, for all its good-heartedness it is an imperfect solution and it doesn't treat the cause of how the debts arose, but it's still better than nothing.

Most of us know what it feels like to owe money, even if only on a credit card or mortgage. But it's a different matter altogether to be that deeply in the red, and even worse when someone else incurred the debt and left you to carry the can.

Under international law, a nation cannot declare bankruptcy, which is why Jubilee 2000 has called for the cancellation of those debts that will only ever be repaid if money is diverted from welfare, health, education and sanitation.

Jubilee 2000 hopes the millennium will be celebrated in a meaningful way, not just with champagne and fireworks, but by giving a fresh start to the world's poor. Now, wouldn't that be cause for a happy New Year?