Stop the vultures

You might expect VeggieKris to be against vultures but it is not the carnivorous birds I am talking about.

MPs demand an end to debt vultures.  Brave Sally Keeble (seen with a vulture perched on her hand) has tabled a motion in parliament (EDM 1440) signed by 203 MPs by 30 November 2009.   The motion asks for the government to control the activities of vulture funds – they buy the debts of poor countries and then try to make huge profits by suing those countries.  The vulture funds are often based in tax havens. 

Sally Keeble MP has also introduced the Developing Country Debt (Restriction of Recovery) Bill with the support of a cross-party group and the motion asks the government to support that bill.

See Sally Keeble's Guardian article,  The vulture fund culture must end. 

There are also moves towards outlawing vulture funds in the Congress of the USA . 

Find out more about the debt crisis from the Jubilee Debt Campaign.

Update, August 2009: The Treasury of the UK government has invited comments on ensuring effective debt relief for poor countries.  Ian Pearson MP says in his foreword to the consultation document:

"A country that is forced to spend more servicing historical debt than it is able to spend on education and health services combined faces a self reinforcing cycle of poverty."

In the Observer see: Vulture fund swoops on Congo.