Category Archives: Essays and Reports

Where has all the money gone?

(June 2, 2009) A recent article by Lord Aikins Adusei in the Zimbabwe Observer asks some pointed questions of the international aid agencies and developed banks. After nearly 50 years and billions of dollars in loans and grants, he says, Africa remains a poverty-striken continent, rife with corruption and political instability. Continue reading

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‘Odious debt’ recognized by British Parliament

(July 14, 2008) Debt Relief, 3rd Report 1997-1998, London: House of Commons The British House of Commons International Development Committee recognizes the concept of odious debt. Continue reading

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Scholars chart new legal course

(January 16, 2008) The principles of the odious debt doctrine exploded into the modern debt debate following the U.S. led invasion of Iraq, capturing the attention of legal scholars and exciting new thought on the history, the foundation, and the future application of the doctrine. Continue reading

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REVIEW Iraq’s debt relief: Procedure and potential implications for international debt relief

(December 28, 2007) Martin Weiss, an analyst with the Congressional Research Service, the public policy research arm of the U.S. Congress, has published an updated paper about the treatment of Iraq’s debts by creditor nations following the fall of Saddam Hussein. Continue reading

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Odious Debt: definition, application and context

(October 30, 2006) The co-author of Advancing the Odious Debts Doctrine addresses how the doctrine can be applied and in which contexts. Continue reading

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The Dilemma of Odious Debts

(September 30, 2006) If we were all responsible for the misdeeds of the governments that represent us, thought Isabel, then the moral burden would be just too great. Continue reading

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Export credit the new ‘odious debt’ of the Third World

(September 1, 2006) Patricia Adams, executive director of Probe International, speaking to the European Commission Conference on Export Credit Agencies and Sustainable Development, 20 June 2006, Brussels. Continue reading

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Free the Third World of export credit agencies

(June 21, 2006) The evidence of boondoggles made possible by Export Credit Agency (ECA) support – the Three Gorges dam, the Norwegian shipping deal to Ecuador, the Manantali dam in the Senegal River basin, the Bataan nuclear power station in the Philippines, pulp and paper mills to Indonesia, the OK Tedi mine in Papua New Guinea, military exports to Iraq – is extensive and well documented. Continue reading

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