Add your voice to the call for global debt justice
Sign the petition & end unjust climate debt
By signing this petition, you stand with millions of families around the world in their fight for dignity, opportunity and hope.
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We want New Zealand communities to get directly involved this year!
Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand is taking part in the global Caritas Turn Debt Into Hope initiative for this Jubilee Year.
This campaign highlights the urgent need for debt justice, especially for Pacific nations, many of which are now forced to borrow money to recover from climate disasters. This is stripping already vulnerable nations of the resources they need for health, education, and the futures of young people.
Currently, countries such as Fiji and Samoa allocate around 15 per cent of government revenue to debt servicing, which is more than they spend on health or education. This financial burden leaves little room for investment in climate resilience or long-term development.
A global injustice
This debt crisis highlights a global injustice. Wealthier nations, whose actions have driven climate change and exacerbated harms to the environment, are responsible for most of the problem. Yet it is poorer nations that are paying the highest price, both environmentally and financially. This is especially true in the Pacific, where nations face the worst impacts of climate change, yet they are being forced into unsustainable debt to rebuild and make adaptations.
We need a new and more just approach.
New Zealand leadership
We are advocating for the international community to rethink how climate finance is delivered.
The New Zealand Government is already demonstrating leadership in this area by providing climate finance as grants rather than loans. Grants don’t have to be repaid, allowing nations to recover from and adapt to climate change impacts without the burden of repaying debt. If more countries followed this approach, it could break the cycle of debt and offer real hope to those most affected by climate change.
We think this should be celebrated. New Zealand’s innovation shows that it understands its moral responsibility to care for its neighbours, and this should be a model for other developed nations to follow.
By signing this petition, you send a message to wealthier countries, urging them to:
1
Stop the debt crisis now by cancelling and remedying unjust and unsustainable debts, without economic policy conditions
2
Prevent debt crises from happening again by addressing their root causes, reforming the global financial system to prioritise people and the planet
3
Establish a permanent, transparent, binding and comprehensive debt framework within the United Nations
Your voice will be added to those of millions of people around the world who demand debt justice for communities crushed by unjust and unpayable debts.
The campaign echoes past successes, such as the Jubilee 2000 movement, which led to the cancellation of over $100 billion in unjust debt.