Jubilee 2000

The World Bank is one of the most powerful financial institutions in the world. People in the global South (or the so-called "Third World") struggle every day with harmful structural adjustment programs imposed upon them by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Among other things, these programs require governments to increase f... ees for health care and sell off public water utilities to profit-seeking multinationals, putting clean water out of reach for the people who need it most. Moreover, because governments of impoverished countries have to prioritize debt repayments to the World Bank and IMF over social needs, poor people go without education, AIDS prevention and treatment, and clean water. The UN has estimated that 19,000 children die every day from preventable diseases because of the debt burden - and much of the debt is owed to these institutions. How does the campaign work? The World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) raises roughly $20 billion on the bond market every year. Investors, including parishes, religious communities, and dioceses; city and state government pension funds; universities; mutual fund investors; and union pension funds are among the buyers of World Bank bonds. Through the World Bank Bonds Boycott, people of faith, taxpayers, working people, and students build political pressure to end harmful World Bank policies, by their churches, religious communities, municipalities, etc. to commit not to buy World Bank bonds in the future. Who has already adopted the boycott? A growing number of religious communities are joining the campaign in the U.S., such as the School Sisters of Notre Dame Cooperative Investment Fund, the Sisters of the Holy Cross, the Sisters of Saint Francis of Tiffin (Ohio), the Sisters of Loretto and the Marianist Brothers and Priests/New York Province. Pax Christi USA and the Jubilee USA Network have endorsed the campaign. The Unitarian Universalist General Assembly adopted the boycott at their annual meeting in late ...Read More