Video
Cephas Lumina: “The Paris Club has no legitimacy”
Summary of the 1 March 2016 session at the European Parliament “Restructuring of debt – reconstruction of democracy”
Thursday 17 March 2016, by
All the versions of this article: [English] [français]
Several members of the Greek Debt Truth Committee (GDTC) attended the session on 1st March 2016 at the European Parliament in Brussels on the topic “Restructuring of debt – reconstruction of democracy”.
The session was organized by Nikolaos Chountis, Vice-minister of the first Tsipras government (January-July 2015) and MEP representing Popular Unity since September 2015, replacing Manolis Glezos. The conclusions of the GDTC’s report enabled the participants to throw new light on the diktats imposed on Greece by creditors and the European authorities.
Here we propose to take a closer look at the contributions of four of those present. Cephas Lumina, member of the GDTC, professor, former Independent Expert to the UN Human Rights Council specializing in the impact of foreign debt on the full exercise of human rights.
Cephas Lumina: “The Paris Club has no legitimacy”
According to UN principles adopted and approved by the Council for Human Rights in 2012, the preservation of fundamental human rights takes precedence over the rights of creditors.
Despite their presence in international texts and jurisdictions, these principles have never been applied in the countries of the European Union or the United States, who refute, quite wrongly, the UN’s legitimacy to deliberate on matters of debt restructuring. Cephas Lumina mentions the critical role played by the Paris Club, an organization devoid of any legitimacy, and the IMF in promoting the interests of creditors to the detriment of protection for fundamental human rights.
To access complete coverage of this session, use the following link: http://www.guengl.eu/news/article/events/restructuring-debt-rebuilding-democracy
And contributions of :
Zoe Konstantopoulou : “The Greek Debt Truth Committee’s final report scared the creditors.”
Eric Toussaint : “The Greek public debt crisis is a web of lies”
Maria-Lucia Fattorelli : “Before anything else can be done, there must be a debt audit”
Translated by Vicki Briault and Mike Krolikowski (CADTM)