(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.
Patricia Adams
Patricia Adams is an economist and the Executive Director of Probe International, an independent think-tank and watchdog over the environmental consequences of Canadian government and corporate activities around the world. Her books include In the Name of Progress: The Underside of Foreign Aid, (Doubleday 1985), and Odious Debts: Loose Lending, Corruption and the Third World”s Environmental Legacy (Earthscan 1991), which exposes the jeopardy of years of loose lending for both the Third World’s environment and their economies, and proposes a legal remedy to place responsibility for the Third World’s debt crisis on the parties involved, instead of on First and Third World taxpayers. Pat also edited the English language translation of Yangtze! Yangtze!, the extraordinary critique by Chinese experts of the Three Gorges dam that inspired the democracy movement when it was first published in 1989, led to the postponement of the dam, and was subsequently banned by Chinese authorities. Her books have been translated into Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Bahasa Indonesia.
Patricia Adams Review: Partially odious debts? A framework for an optimal liability regime
(November 20, 2007) This provocative paper is sure to raise the ire of a civil society that wants Third World debts canceled because of their illegitimacy. But it won’t make the lenders who want "no fault" debt forgiveness (courtesy of Northern taxpayers) happy either. Instead, authors Ben-Shahar and Gulati push the legal envelope of "how to" resolve the Third World debt quagmire and in doing so, empower odious debt advocates with more legal fight than ever before.
Inter-American Development Bank debt relief a smoke screen
(December 12, 2006) A move last month by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) to write off US$2.1-billion in debt owed to it by five Latin American countries helps the Bank bail itself out and bury its mistakes under a cloak of magnanimity, says odious debts expert, Patricia Adams.
Export credit debt prevention: speech by Patricia Adams
(June 20, 2006) I suspect the vast majority of ECA loans, credits, and guarantees to the Third World – which have doubled and now account for 34% of all Third World official debts – could be deemed "odious."
Germany and Japan block new anti-bribery guidelines for export credit agencies
(February 24, 2006) Anti-bribery watchdog Probe International calls OECD guidelines "paper tiger" anyway.
International law supports Iraqi debt challenge
(February 11, 2005) Saddam Hussein used money western countries lent him mainly to arm himself, oppress his people, and build opulent palaces. So should his victims have to pay it back without knowing who lent the money and what the money financed?
Patricia Adams’ Oral Statement to the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
(October 29, 2004) The oral statement presented by Patricia Adams to the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the roundtable discussion on multilateral development bank corruption.
Patricia Adams’ Written Statement to the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
(November 12, 2004) The written statement submitted by Patricia Adams to the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the roundtable discussion on multilateral development bank corruption.
Commentary by Patricia Adams on Iraq’s odious debts
(October 1, 2004) "What better way to demonstrate the power of democracy and the rule of law than to establish a precedent telling filthy financiers everywhere their money isn’t safe when they finance tyrants against their people."
PRESS RELEASE Landmark decision will lead to other debarments
(July 23, 2004) Canadian-based foreign aid watchdog Probe International welcomed the World Bank’s decision today to blacklist Canadian engineering company Acres International from receiving World Bank contracts for the next three years and predicts the Bank’s blacklisting of Acres will lead to more debarments of other companies convicted in the Lesotho corruption trials.
Landmark decision will lead to other debarments: analyst
(July 23, 2004)Canadian-based foreign aid watchdog Probe International welcomed the World Bank’s decision today to blacklist Canadian engineering company Acres International from receiving World Bank contracts for the next three years and predicts the Bank’s blacklisting of Acres will lead to more debarments of other companies convicted in the Lesotho corruption trials.
Combating corruption in multilateral development banks: Statement by Patricia Adams to the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
(May 25, 2004) Patricia Adams’ statement to the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations regarding its investigation of corruption in multilateral development bank (MDB) projects.
Human rights abuses and the Three Gorges dam
(March 19, 2004) Dai Qing, eminent Beijing-based journalist and veteran campaigner against the Three Gorges dam, discusses the suppression of opposition to the project in a recent talk at the University of Toronto in Canada.
Africa is not in flames
(November 17, 2003) While Bono’s oratory may be splendid, his analysis sells Africa short . . . As Africans know too well, the more that their governments have received foreign aid, the more poverty has grown.
Cancel Iraq’s odious debts first, donors conference told
(October 22, 2003) Debt relief groups have urged Iraq’s debtors to adhere to a 100-year-old legal principle to resolve Iraq’s debt crisis and assist reconstruction efforts when they meet tomorrow in Madrid.
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