Jubilee Iraq, founded by Iraqis and citizens in creditor countries, calls for:
* Immediate and unconditional cancellation of all odious debt and reparations.
* Disputes settled through a fair arbitration tribunal, representive of Iraqi views.
* We have no other agenda, which is why people of opposing political views support us.

December 22, 2008

Following the completion of the IMF's Executive Board's second review into Iraq's implementation of its stand-by arrangement with the Fund, the Paris Club--which had made the final stage of their debt relief conditional on Iraq's cooperation with the IMF and seeking of comparable relief from non-Paris Club creditors--agreed to implement the final tranch of debt relief, worth 20% of the original claims. This follows an initial reduction of 30% on the signing of the Paris Club agreement on 21 November 2004, a further 30% on 23 December 2005 after Iraq entered into the stand-by arrangement with the IMF. In total then, the Paris Club members have reduced their claims against Iraq by 80% to $7.8bn.

Jubilee Iraq members rallied outside the Paris Club's meeting in November 2004 and met with the Paris Club president to present Iraqi perspectives on the odious debt. We are pleased to see the completion of the agreement reached then. Now, as Iraq's economy is battered by the global slowdown and the collapse in its oil revenues, we call on the Paris Club members and other creditors to go further and drop all remaining debts against Iraq.