G-8 leaders will be considering debt relief for Iraq at this week's summit and World Vision is asking the G-8 to extend that benefit to other countries.

According to World Vision's report An Ounce of Prevention, the accumulated debt of the 16 poorest war-torn countries could be cleared for far less than the cost to forgive the $134 billion US that Iraq owes.

The report argues that debt forgiveness is a critical preventative measure in enabling post-conflict countries to avoid future bloodshed. G-8 leaders have the chance to use the Sea Island summit to make decisions that would dramatically improve the lives of countless victims of conflict by forgiving their combined debt of $84 billion US.

"Just as the U.S. is arguing in the case of Iraq, debt forgiveness is vital in bringing stability to war-wracked countries and in preventing renewed conflict," World Vision's director of international policy and advocacy, Alan Whaites, says. "Without debt relief, however, these countries will remain shackled to the constraints of post-conflict economic stagnation without the means to rise to viability."

As well as debt forgiveness, the report makes six other recommendations to prevent future conflicts. These include the establishment of a common framework for conflict-sensitive assistance, a call to ensure that aid resources are not diverted to fight terrorism, and for peacekeeping troops under UN command to be trained in advance on typical humanitarian protection tasks. It also urges donors to dedicate resources to restrict the flow of small arms and illegal exploitation of natural resources to countries in conflict.

"Prime Minister Martin has an opportunity to show leadership and convince other G-8 leaders to take a broad approach to debt relief. If only Iraq benefits, this G-8 meeting will be a lost opportunity," says World Vision Canada president Dave Toycen.
 
The following profiles from Sudan, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cambodia, Haiti, and Afghanistan highlight how the 16 countries have been devastated by conflict:

• In Sudan, some two million people have died and more than four million others have been displaced from their homes since 1983. More than 75 per cent of the displaced are women and children.
• War and HIV/AIDS have left more than one million children in Rwanda orphaned.
• About 17 million people face significant food shortages in the Democratic Republic of Congo, largely due to armed conflict.
• Executions, starvation and disease have killed up to two million people in four years in Cambodia, about 20 per cent of the population.
• Conflict has caused endemic hunger in Afghanistan and just 13 per cent of people have access to safe water.
• Haiti's adult HIV prevalence rate of 6 per cent is one of the highest in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The report captures the grim picture of life in countries hit by years of bloody conflict, and argues that the collective failure of international institutions to take conflict prevention seriously has contributed to the deaths of 14 million people and the displacement of 19 million others over the last four decades in these 16 countries.  Click here to download the pdf  An Ounce of Prevention.

World Vision is a Christian humanitarian relief and development organization active in more than 90 countries around the world, providing help to more than 85 million people each year.