Together we’ve stopped the attempt to marginalise and undermine the UN by rich country governments.
 
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has stood up for just economic policies and Southern governments for many years. This has made it unpopular with some developed country governments. At UNCTAD’s conference in Doha this week, those governments tried to limit UNCTAD’s work.
 
But action by campaigners across the world - including you - prevented UNCTAD being undermined.
 
Thank you for writing to British development minister Andrew Mitchell.
 
Thanks to your actions, UNCTAD will continue its excellent work on debt and economic crisis, despite attempts by the UK government to silence it.
 
This small victory is about much more than language in a conference text. It is part of a wider battle over who should run the global economy.
 
While rich country governments like the UK would rather leave things to undemocratic and dogmatic institutions like the International Monetary Fund, Southern governments believe that democratic, UN-based institutions like UNCTAD should play a vital role in governing the global economy.
 
You can see why: UNCTAD foresaw the dangers of a reckless financial system, while the IMF encouraged that system. UNCTAD called for debt cancellation for highly indebted countries, while the IMF thought more loans were the answer. UNCTAD has consistently called for a more equal and just global economy, while the IMF has promoted an economy run in the interests of the 1%.
 
So blatant was the attempt to silence UNCTAD over the last week, that former staff at the institution, global campaigners and Southern governments all issued appeals.
 
The ‘G77 plus China’ group which speaks for 133 countries of the global South, said they wanted UNCTAD to play a role in articulating “a vision of development based on equality, based on a differentiated approach to development, and based on equal respect for all” but accused rich country governments of behaviour “reminiscent of the darkest days of the North-South divide.”
 
We are sorry to report the UK played a particularly unhelpful role in these negotiations. On Wednesday we heard from Jubilee colleagues that the UK wanted UNCTAD to stop working to try to get principles on how to lend and borrow responsibly adopted.
 
Thanks to your help they failed. UNCTAD has kept its mandate to work on financial and related crises. One of our global Jubilee colleagues wrote to me saying those who had taken action are “heroes” amongst those working for justice in Doha.
 
UNCTAD will be allowed to continue its work, but it remains deeply upsetting that the UK, with a history of grossly irresponsible lending, tried to silence it. We must continue our work to hold governments like ours to account for their past irresponsible lending, and stop them from continuing to make unjust loans