The "Cancellation Year 2025" campaign starts today. 35 civil society organisations, including erlassjahr.de and Misereor, are campaigning for debt cancellation for countries in the Global South in order to improve the living conditions of millions of people. Signatures are being collected worldwide to mark the Catholic Church's "Holy Year".
"We want to speak with a strong civil society voice and make 2025 a year of debt cancellation," explain Kristina Rehbein and Klaus Schilder on behalf of the campaign alliance. The global debt crisis has been allowed to escalate for far too long. The unjust financial system and the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and the war against Ukraine have led to indebted countries having to repay more than ever before to their foreign creditors in the past year, according to the Debt Report 2024 published by erlassjahr.de and Misereor. "Progressive over-indebtedness of states increases poverty and inequality," warns Klaus Schilder, an expert in development financing at Misereor. State social benefits, investments in infrastructure or funds to combat poverty are being massively cut in order to service the debt. "New government debt has to be taken on to pay off the old debt - a vicious circle," Schilder continues. "Fair debt relief can help here and give highly indebted countries such as Sri Lanka the necessary room for manoeuvre to finance urgently needed investments in basic social services and social justice."
2025 as a year of opportunity
The "Erlassjahr 2025" campaign launched today in Germany aims to draw attention to this problem: "Together with the supporting organisations here in Germany and alongside hundreds of organisations worldwide, we are appealing to the international community and the German government in particular to finally get to the root of the debt problem and tackle its causes," says Kristina Rehbein, Political Coordinator at erlassjahr.de, explaining the background. "The countries of the Global South finally need more of a say when it comes to dealing with their debt burden." Decisions on debt cancellation should be negotiated within the framework of the United Nations and not in the creditors' clubs of the Global North. "This finally requires a fair and transparent sovereign insolvency procedure," continued Rehbein. The fourth United Nations Financing for Development Conference (FfD4) at the end of June in Seville will be a decisive political moment. erlassjahr.de and Misereor: "FfD4 offers the opportunity to reform the global debt regime while taking ecological and social development goals into account."
The international campaign "Cancellation Year 2025 - Turn Debt into Hope" aims to increase the pressure on political decision-makers to find swift and binding solutions to the global debt crisis this year. Signatures are to be collected worldwide by the beginning of 2026. In Germany, the campaign is being coordinated by the Catholic aid organisation Misereor and the German debt relief alliance erlassjahr.de. 35 development organisations, church groups and institutions have already signed up to the appeal. Over the course of the year, there will be a variety of campaigns and participatory elements. The "Erlassjahr2000" campaign was already successfully campaigning for debt cancellation in the late 1990s.
Supporting organisations in the campaign alliance:
attac Aalen | attac Deutschland | Brot für die Welt | Bund der Deutschen Katholischen Jugend | Campact | Christians for Future | Debt for Climate Deutschland | Dillinger Franziskanerinnen Deutsche Provinz | Eine Welt Laden Mönchengladbach | Entwicklungspolitisches Netzwerk Sachsen | erlassjahr.de | Evangelisch-Lutherisches Missionswerk Leipzig | Evangelische Kirche von Westfalen | Forum Ökologie & Papier | Forum Umwelt und Entwicklung | Germanwatch | Global Policy Forum Europe | Informationsstelle Peru | jesuitenweltweit | Katholische Erwachsenenbildung Ostalbkreis | Kindernothilfe | Kirchlicher Entwicklungsdienst der Ev. Church Development Service of the Protestant Church in Baden | Kolping International | Coordination Circle Mozambique | Misereor | Ecumenical Centre Oldenburg | Oxfam Germany | Social Justice in Global Development | Südwind Institute for Economy and Ecumenism | Ukama Centre of the Jesuits for Social-Ecological Transformation | UtopiAA | United Evangelical Mission | Weltladen Dachverband | World Economy, Ecology and Development - WEED | Women Engage for a Common Future Germany
