For Immediate Release: December 8, 2021
Contact: Hillary John, hjohn@skdknick.com

The virtual panel featured former Ambassador for Religious Freedom Brownback and African Union Ambassador Suka-Mafudze

Washington, DC — This morning, former Ambassador, Senator, and Governor Sam Brownback and African Union Ambassador Suka-Mafudze joined a virtual conversation hosted by Jubilee USA on the critical need to help lower-income countries with pandemic response and economic recovery. The panelists discussed Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) which are reserve assets created by the International Monetary Fund that can be used to help countries facing economic downturns, and are a much-needed and effective financial tool during severe crises. Remarks by the panelists on the importance of allocating SDRs to lower-income and middle-incoming countries included the following:

• “This is both a geostrategic imperative for us and a moral imperative for us as the United States as a wealthy nation. Both of these factors are at play in us doing everything we can to see that developing countries get the resources they need in the middle of the pandemic,” said Former U.S. Ambassador for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback. Ambassador Brownback also applauded Jubilee USA for “...being bipartisan in an era it’s difficult to be bipartisan in.”

• “The initial SDRs were used by African countries to respond to the health crisis, economic recovery, to the strengthening of the health systems and increased social protection, as well to support the acquisition of COVID-19 vaccines, investments in schools, hospitals, and drugs,” said African Union Ambassador to the United States H.E. Hilda Suka-Mafudze. “While the initial allocation of the SDRs was a major step in the right direction to quickly inject funds into the most at-risk economies, the $33 billion allocated to Africa is insufficient.”

• “[We support allocations] of SDRs in solidarity with churches in Africa that have expressed the importance of self-determination, human dignity, and human rights of African peoples,” said Bread for the World President & CEO Rev. Eugene Cho. “There are brothers and sisters, churches, coalitions within this particular continent that have expressed the importance of these allocations.”

• “$233 billion [of the August allocation is] immediately going to low-income and middle-income developing countries. This money can be used to deal with their debt crises, this money can be used to pay for vaccines, this money can be used to be able to support their people to be able to access basic needs,” said Jubilee USA Network Executive Director Eric LeCompte.

The full recording of the panel is available here, and a clip of highlights is available here.

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