By: Wadner Pierre - HaitiAnalysis

From the twentieth to the twenty third of June 2008 in Columbus, Ohio the organization Jubilee USA held a conference on the cancellation of the debts owed by the governments of poor countries to international lenders.

The plight of poor countries across five continents were addressed at the conference. Jubilee USA seeks to eliminate the burden that large external debts place on the poorest countries. Haiti and LIberia, two of the poorest countries in the world, have external debts of $1.5 billion and $4.5 billion respectively.

In attendance were religious activists: a Lutheran Bishop, two pastors and Chere soeur who works in Liberia. Jubilee USA is made up of a circle of different religious faiths.

Emira Woods, one of the speakers, highlighted the fact that the debts of Haiti and Liberia are "odious" debts - debts for which the people of those countries should not be held responsible because they did not benefit from them or have any say in negotiating them:

"This money that we pay today was given to the governments of dictators such as Jean-Claude Duvalier in Haiti and Charles Taylor in Liberia." She added "Our children must not continue to live this way. It is really inhumane."

There were different workshops, one of them discussed the current situation in Haiti and Liberia, where numerous photographs were presented.

It was made clear that it is important that international financial institutions such are the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the Inter-American Development Bank cancel the debt of Haiti. Debt relief is indispensable to alleviating the social problems that affect the poor and allowing Haitians to achieve political stability.

Young African-Americans in attendance pledged to remain mobilized until debt cancellation is achieved. Many spoke about the lending policies of their representatives in both chambers and about the candidates in the presidential election of 2008.

"We will stand and mobilize all our skilled human resources, because this battle is ours, we must fight against social injustice in all its forms", declared a young African-American activist named Monet Cooper.