FOR those who have campaigned for many years to see Third World debt addressed seriously, articles such as Anne Johnstone's are very welcome (May 13).
I fear, though, that it might have given the impression that Oxfam is not part of the Jubilee 2000 coalition campaigning for debt forgiveness to mark the millennium. We are, and indeed in Scotland sit on the Jubilee 2000 steering group. Oxfam supporters throughout Scotland have played their part in gathering signatures on the Jubilee 2000 petition.
For the moment, though, the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative is what we have, and Oxfam is happy to ''bolt on'' the suggestion that debt relief be converted directly into funds for primary health care, basic education, and the provision of water and sanitation. That could save the lives of 3.2 million children over seven years.
Today Oxfam has provided evidence to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child that the Governments of Germany, Japan, and Italy are making a mockery of their commitment to the future of the world's children by systematically blocking HIPC debt relief.
It is they who have delayed the provision of relief to countries such as Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Mozambique. They have blocked proposals such as Britain's ''Mauritius Mandate'' to speed up relief. They have obstructed the sale of IMF gold stocks to provide increased resources for debt relief.
They have perpetuated the circumstance whereby Africa spends five times more on debt than on basic health, while one in seven of her children die before the age of five.
HIPC is what we have and Jubilee 2000 is what we want. We will continue to argue the detail of one and campaign assiduously for the other. In this way this obscene and pointless blight on the future of millions will one day (perhaps soon) be a thing of the past.
Iain Gray,
Deputy Head of Campaigns,
Oxfam in Scotland,
110 Rose Street South Lane,
Edinburgh. May 13.
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