Haiti

by Ryan Grim

A House subcommittee approved a measure on Thursday to press major international financial institutions to completely cancel all debts owed by Haiti, where a major earthquake devastated what little capacity Haiti had to pay the debts back.

The International Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee approved the Debt Relief for Earthquake Recovery in Haiti Act, introduced by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), which also aims to encourage direct assistance in the form of grants from those institutions, rather than loans.

by Te-Ping Chen

In the past two weeks, activists have rallied to keep Haiti's creditors from hounding the quake-shattered nation, which has already lost 150,000 people to the disaster.

The ONE campaign, in particular, is at the forefront of the call to drop Haiti's $1 billion debt. So far, their petition in support of debt relief has garnered 168,000 signatures, and last night, a conference call for activists attracted over 6,000 participants.

Change.org talked with Aaron Banks from ONE this morning about the campaign, and their expectations for success:

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton voiced support Tuesday for forgiving Haiti's debt, doubting the earthquake-battered nation would be able to repay it.

"It's just unrealistic to think that Haiti would ever, in the far foreseeable future, be able to repay," Clinton said in an interview with American Urban Radio Networks broadcast Tuesday.

Clinton said the United States was looking at plans outlined by international lenders to forgive Haiti's debt which stood at around one billion dollars before the earthquake.