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Climate change and foreign debt are intersecting human rights issues, and faith communities can contribute to better understanding and addressing these concerns, agreed many who attended a side event held on the occasion of the 39th Human Rights Council at Palais des Nations in Geneva on 18 September.
Rev. Dr Osbert James of the Presbyterian Church in Grenada addressed the participants with the perspective from the islands of the Caribbean, so often “locked in a build-and-rebuild cycle due to climate change”.
For those living in small island developing states in the Caribbean, “the discussion of sovereign debt and climate change is not an academic exercise - it is an existential one; it is about our right to exist”, said Rev. James, who coordinates the Jubilee Caribbean network. “Hurricanes are expected to gain in frequency and intensity as climate change continues to accelerate.”
Jubilee Caribbean, an initiative of the local churches and the national church councils of the Caribbean, insists that the external debt should be brought to a sustainable level, i.e. under 60% of the GDP and that, given the exceptional vulnerability of the islands to natural disasters and external shocks, debt relief should be established as an instrument for emergency support and reconstruction.
The global Jubilee movement promotes the Biblical concept of Jubilee which includes the periodic cancellation of debt to end the cycle of poverty caused by indebtedness. “We believe that the church cannot remain silent or inactive in the face of such grave violations of the dignity and human rights of persons living in small island developing states”, said James.
Athena Peralta, programme executive for Economic and Ecological Justice at the World Council of Churches (WCC), said the side event discussions revealed that climate change and foreign debt are intersecting concerns which ultimately encroach on the dignity and rights of people, especially those living in the Global South.
“On the one hand, foreign debt burdens constrain the capacities of states to take ambitious action to mitigate, adapt and build resilience to climate change and to protect the economic, social and cultural rights of the marginalised who are in the frontline of climate change impacts,” said Peralta. “On the other hand, climate change strengthens the calls for debt relief for poor nations on human rights grounds. Therefore the interaction between climate change and indebtedness ought to be more closely addressed in the human rights agenda.”
The discussion “Climate Change, External Debt and Human Rights” was organized by the Geneva Interfaith Forum on Climate Change and Human Rights, Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University, Franciscans International, and the WCC.
Address of Rev. Dr Osbert James of the Presbyterian Church in Grenada (video)
Photos from the side event, “Climate Change, External Debt and Human Rights”
Learn more about the WCC's work on Care for Creation and Climate Justice
