As climate change continues to devastate vulnerable communities worldwide, the World Council of Churches (WCC) called on the UN Human Rights Council to address the “climate-debt-tax-human rights nexus as a moral imperative.” The statement, delivered by Rev. Peter Adenekan during the 58th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, highlighted how debt obligations are preventing governments in developing countries from meeting basic human rights and responding effectively to the climate emergency.
The statement was cosigned by the Anglican Communion, Franciscans International, and Lutheran World Federation.
Adenekan, currently a student at the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, is conducting research with the WCC’s Living Planet Programme on the intersection of climate and debt in Nigeria and the role of churches as a contribution to the WCC’s Turn Debt into Hope Campaign.
“Many of these countries are spending more on servicing debt than on lifesaving public services and responding to the climate emergency,” Adenekan stated in his address to the UN Human Rights Council. “In other words, obligations to repay debt are preventing governments from meeting people’s rights to health, education, and a clean environment.”
He explained how climate-vulnerable countries face a vicious cycle of indebtedness, as extreme climate events force them to borrow more to support affected communities and fund reconstruction efforts.
The statement emphasized that developing countries lose billions of dollars annually due to tax evasion and avoidance by multinational corporations and wealthy individuals – resources that could be invested in just climate transitions.
Following COP29’s establishment of a roadmap to deliver US$1.3 trillion in climate finance to developing countries, the statement called for a holistic approach that integrates climate finance, debt and tax policy, and connects climate action with fundamental reform of the global financial architecture.
Drawing on the Biblical Jubilee tradition, the statement urged the Human Rights Council to support the proposals of the Independent Expert on the Effects of Foreign Debt to cancel unjust and unsustainable debt without imposing harmful austerity conditions, and to promote a fairer system of taxation.
The statement also called for a transparent debt restructuring framework and a UN Debt Convention to develop rules for settling debt crises in a fair and accountable manner.
“The global financial system must deliver climate reparations for climate vulnerable communities and uphold human rights in a time of climate crisis,” Adenekan concluded.
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