For Immediate Release:
September 13, 2005

Contact: Voices for Creative Nonviolence
Jeff Leys: 773-573-5380
Farah Mokhtareizadeh: 856-236-6141

CHICAGO, IL and WASHINGTON DC, September 13–For the next sixteen days, advocates for economic justice in Iraq will fast outside the headquarters of the International Monetary Fund (I.M.F.) in Washington, D.C. With the IMF and World Bank meeting in ten days, fasters with Voices for Creative Nonviolence will call for the cancellation of the $125 billion of debt incurred by Saddam Hussein and now thrust upon the Iraqi people.

From September 27-29, fasters will move on to the United Nations building in New York City while the UN Compensation Commission meets in Geneva. Both the IMF and UNCC meetings are critical because they will determine the United States’ and international demands for Iraq’s repayment of debt and reparations.

The UNCC’s claims for Iraqi debt relate to the invasion and occupation of Kuwait in 1990-91 by Saddam Hussein’s regime. Iraq has paid $19 billion in reparations claims, including over $2 billion since the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime. The UNCC imposed an additional $33 billion in war reparations claims against Iraq which are yet to be paid. Virtually all unpaid claims are owed to oil companies or governments. Virtually all claims of individual people are settled and paid.

Fast participants will present five key demands which must be met for economic justice for Iraqis: