Blogging from Ecuador

Nick Dearden, Jubilee Debt Campaign's Director, is in Quito in Ecuador for an international debt campaigners conference on Illegitimate Debt. This is his blog from the mountains.

Day 1:

I'm currently at a momentous event to discuss where the debt movement is going next. Around 50 campaigners from every continent in the world (bar Antarctica) are in Quito to discuss a more coordinated and high profile campaign on illegitimate debt. Movements from the global South (developing countries) have campaigned on the debt their countries bear in terms of power and legitimacy for many years, while Northern countries have focussed more on making sure debt is not 'unpayable' for poor countries.

While we've had amazing successes in cancelling developing country debt in the last 10 years, it is still nowhere near enough and most debt campaigns across Europe, the US and Australasia are now campaigning for governments to look at the illegitimacy of debts - where loans were lent recklessly for projects which had a negative impact on that country's people or which were siphoned off in corruption or used to impose inappropriate economic conditions like trade liberalisation on countries - surely those loans should not be the responsibility of the Southern country?.

We're in Ecuador because the government of President Correa is the first in the world to conduct a Debt Audit - which is examining the debts of Ecuador and working out which are legitimate and which illegitimate. The Audit could have a massive impact in putting the issue of illegitimate debts on the agenda internationally and forcing Northern lenders (countries and banks) to cancel some of the debts they lent irresponsibly. We hope the Audit will be published at the end of the week.

Today we're getting over altitude sickness (Quito is the second highest capital city in the world) and jet lag (some people have travelled for nearly two days to get here) while discussing what we mean by illegitimate debt and how we can get our message out more widely.