DEBT IN ZAMBIA - A HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE

On 10^th December 1999, Zambians participated in the commemoration of the 51^st anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. For most people the commemoration presented an opportunity to reflect on past efforts in the human rights sphere. But as we embrace the new millennium here in Zambia, there is a very urgent need to reflect on the insurmountable impediment of external debt and its seriously negative impact on human rights. This is the issue discussed in this article, since it touches very directly the challenges of respecting human dignity and the possibilities for human development.

The term human rights is used to refer to those rights that have been recognised by the global community and protected by national and international legal instruments. They reflect the moral conscience of the world and the highest common aspiration that everyone should live free from want and fear and have the opportunity to develop in dignity. This basically entails a proclamation by the world that every living being has:

• the right to life and liberty
• the right to security of person (physical integrity)
• the right to participate in the political process
• the freedom of religion, opinion, speech and expression
• the right to a standard of living adequate for health and well being of the individual and his or her family
• the right to work and to be entitled to just and favourable conditions of work
• the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
• the right to food and housing
• the right to education and access to information

The above mentioned rights and all other rights complementing them are all inherent in the human person. This means that every woman, man and child is entitled to enjoy them simply by virtue of being human. What this further entails is that regardless of colour, sex, religion or nationality, every person is entitled to these rights.

Governments do not grant rights, but governments must respect, protect and promote rights.

To guarantee the respect of these rights, various instruments have been written and affirmed by nearly all civilised nations world over. These include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (1981). Moreover, there are the more specific instruments such as the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984), Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and many others.

Various nations have gone further in their commitment to human rights by enshrining most of the provisions into their constitutions and into domestic law. Zambia today is a signatory to nearly all the main human rights instruments and it is pleasing to note that the whole of part III of the Zambian Constitution is an extract from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

There is a tendency by many people to try to list human rights in the order of their importance. Reality, however, has shown and continues to show that any attempt at creating hierarchies of rights is doomed to failure. All human rights are core and central. Denial of one right invariably impedes enjoyment of others. One human rights advocate put this point very clearly: "A malnourished girl will be unable to concentrate at school and to benefit from the education that would assist her to participate fully in civil society and the democratic process."

This precisely is why many people have referred to human rights as being indivisible, interdependent and inter-related. And this points to the fact all human rights (be they civil and political rights or economic, social and cultural rights) have no hierarchy of importance. They are all priorities and of equal importance.

Now why can we say that the external debt of a poor country like Zambia is indeed a human rights issue?

Debt becomes a human rights issue as far in as it can be said to be one of the major obstacles to the practical realisation and full enjoyment of human rights. What has happened is that heavily indebted developing countries spend huge sums of their scarce national resources on debt servicing. In fact they spend more on servicing the debt than on providing people with the necessary basics of education and health. And in as far as this debt servicing does nothing but reduce the people to a poverty level where the creditors determine their political, economic and social destiny, then debt invariably becomes a human rights issue.

Having said this, the question that obviously comes to mind is: what does this mean for Zambia and our human rights record?

The Zambian government currently owes about US$ 6.5 billion to foreign creditors. Over half of this money is multilateral debt, owed to global lending institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Almost all of the rest is bilateral debt, which means it is owed to the governments of donor countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan.

Like many other developing nations, Zambia borrowed most of this money over 20 years ago. In the early 1970s, the commercial banks were awash with dollars earned by the oil producing countries and they were keen to lend to earn interest. The World Bank, International Monetary Fund and regional development banks were also keen to lend money and saw their clients as the developing countries.

Zambia hoped that the money borrowed would enable it to improve its educational, health and living standards and create new industries. It anticipated an income from these industries, which together with the high stable income from commodities such as copper would pay the interest due and eventually repay the debt. It did not foresee the fall in commodity prices or the sharp rises in interest rates that were to come. Seeing that the prices of copper continuously declined, the Government borrowed more in order to keep the economy going in the short term while at the same time using the money to pay back debt. But the economy never recovered, the Government could not pay off its loans, and yet again it had to continue borrowing.

It is true that for the most part the Zambian government borrowed money genuinely for the well being of its people. For instance, schools (primary, secondary and university), hospitals, rail-lines and roads, etc., were built. It is also true that Zambia will never be able to pay off its debts. Instead of cancelling the debt, the donors and creditors have come up with all sorts of ways to keep the debt servicing going. They keep giving the government "balance of payment support," that primarily is money to service the debt. They keep scheduling the debt so that it does not have to be paid for years and years. And as a result of this, they are able to dictate to Zambia policies such as structural adjustment programmes (SAP) as a condition for further support.

External debt is no doubt one of the biggest economic problems that Zambia is facing today. In 1996 alone, the government paid over $200 million to service its debt while in 1997 it paid $174 million and in 1998 $132 million. According to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development statistics, by September 1999, the government had paid $110 and who knows how much it will spend by the end of the year.

While Zambia continues honouring its debt obligations, the rights of the majority of Zambians continue being violated. A sample list of a few basic rights illustrate this deeply disturbing reality:

1. Right to life

The right to life basically means that it is every human being's right to live. No life can be taken away by another unjustifiably. The life in question is one that is dignified and as such one has to have food, shelter and all other things that will enable them to realise a full life.

From the rights that will be discussed below, it will be shown that depriving people of the right to food, shelter, health and education is directly threatening life itself and thus violating this very basic human right, the right to life.

In many human rights instruments, participation is accorded a central role in human development. Participation means being having a say in all national issues, be it political, social and economic spheres.

Participation gives a voice to the poor and marginalised and integrates them into the decision-making structures and processes that shape their lives.

The debt situation in Zambia has resulted in a situation where rather than listening to the people, the majority in this case who are extremely poor, the government directs all its ears to the demands of the creditors. A good example is the implementation of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). This SAP has been imposed on Zambia by the creditors and it continues to be implemented by the government regardless of all the adverse effects it has on the lives of ordinary citizens.

As a result of these adverse effects, many Zambians have been reduced to such a state that their capacity to analyse their own situation has tremendously declined. They all seem pre-occupied simply with finding means and ways of survival. This in turn has led to a situation where the majority are apathetic and do not involve themselves in such affairs as registering to vote, lobbying their MPs, etc. Too many poor citizens are easily bribed and manipulated by the rich few, and are thereby robbed of their rightful role of effectively and intelligently participating in public life.

Cardinal to the understanding of all human rights is the right to education. This can clearly be seen from different human rights instruments:

Zambia is a signatory to all the above instruments. But walking down the streets of Lusaka reveals a sea of young children who are supposed to be in school, loitering the streets begging for food. It is the same story in all public schools, that the government is unable to locate money to the running of the school owing to the huge amounts of money they have to spend on debt servicing. Schools in turn have resorted to placing the burden on the parents. Most of these parents are out of employment because of retrenchments and redundancies brought about by SAP, thereby can not afford to pay school fees.

It is every Zambian's right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. This includes medical care and special care and assistance in childhood and motherhood.

Zambia today ranks among the highest in the world in infant mortality, maternal mortality and HIV/AIDS related deaths. A major contributing factor to this sad situation is the fact that the Zambian government spends more money on debt servicing than it spends on supplying the necessary drugs and personnel to health institutions. Nor does it allocate money to engage in research aimed at solving health problems such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, etc.

The current collapse of the University Teaching Hospital and the firing of doctors is one more indication of the violation of human rights of the ordinary Zambian citizen who is entitled to decent health care.

As a result of the deterioration of the health sector due to the requirement of debt servicing, many ordinary Zambians have resorted to keeping their sick people at home. This is because of lack of means to meet hospital user fees introduced to supplement government funding. Moreover there is also the realisation that hospitals have no drugs and well-motivated medical personnel.

The right to work, with its corresponding rights to decent wages and working conditions is another fundamental right that continues to suffer violation as a result of debt.

One of the notable implications of Structural Adjustment Programme has been massive loss of jobs by thousands of Zambians through retrenchments and redundancies in privatised or liquidated companies. As if this is not enough the government does not even have the capacity to offer its current work force favourable remuneration and good working conditions to ensure an existence worthy of human dignity. Furthermore, still as a result of servicing its debt obligations, the government is unable to pay retired workers their hard-earned money in pensions and retrenchment packages..

Jubilee 2000-Zambia will continue to campaign for total cancellation of Zambia's debt because Zambia's debt is clearly unsustainable and unpayable. As the three church mother bodies, i.e., the Christian Council of Zambia, the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia and the Zambia Episcopal Conference, noted in their joint pastoral letter of 17^th August, 1998:

And above all Zambia must not pay because the debt burden violates human rights. It inhibits life, participation and literacy levels, good health, job opportunities and good working conditions.

Human rights activists in Zambia and around the globe must support debt cancellation because it is very clearly a human rights issue!

Brenda Mofya
4^th year Law UNZA and JCTR-Student Intern

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