Debt campaign anniversary marked

Campaigners say millions of children have been helped by debt cancellation

An event to mark the 10th anniversary of the Drop the Debt campaign has taken place in Birmingham.

Organisers said the Journey to Justice event would "celebrate what the campaign has achieved and demand that politicians finish the job".

Jubilee Debt Campaign is urging rich nations to cancel more debts from developing countries, to cut poverty.

It says millions of children already have improved health and education as a result of previous debt cancellation.

Archbishop Ndungane, the former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town and now president of the African Monitor body, was a keynote speaker.

We hope the events being organised will bring new people into the campaign to keep it going, because although much has been done there's still plenty that needs to be achieved Stephen Rand, Jubilee Debt Campaign

Specially filmed reports from Zambia, Tanzania, Honduras and Haiti were shown.

Journey to Justice ended with a meeting in the Centenary Square in Birmingham, where Drop the Debt chain links, signed by campaigners across the world, were joined together in a message to world leaders ahead of July's G8 summit in Japan.

The event marked the anniversary of when, in May 1998, a human chain of 70,000 people was formed around the location of the G8 meeting, which was also being held in Birmingham, to demand that they "drop the debt" for the world's poorest countries.

JDC co-chair Stephen Rand said the debt cancellation achieved over the past decade had already benefited millions of children.

"We estimate there are 29 million children in schools that would not be there without debt cancellation, and millions of children have been immunised against disease, again as a result of debt cancellation.

"We hope the events being organised will bring new people into the campaign to keep it going, because although much has been done there's still plenty that needs to be achieved."