Debt cancellation and Sovereign Debt Workout Mechanism

    Our demands

    • Permanent cancellation of external debt payments for at least four years to all developing countries in need without penalties;
    • Provision of additional, emergency finance without creating more debt, nor conditionalities;
    • Protection of developing countries from lawsuits when ceasing debt payments at national and multilateral levels;
    • A debt relief initiative to bring developing country debts down to sustainable levels and which considers countries’ long-term financing needs to pursue the SDGs, climate goals, and human rights and gender equality commitments;
    • A sovereign debt workout mechanism at the UN that would comprehensively address unsustainable and illegitimate debt.
    The dimension of Gender Equality

    Public and private debt reduce the fiscal space for governments to ensure the maximum amount of resources for gender equality and women’s human rights as well as sustainable development. For decades, conditionalities (including austerity measures) have depleted the capacity of States to ensure health and education systems, as well as social protection mechanisms. Economic shocks linked to debt have proven to increase the burden of unpaid domestic and care work, because the capacity of social expenditure is reduced, and women amortize those shocks.