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Rev. Dr Kenneth Mtata, WCC programme director for Life, Justice, and Peace; and Peter Prove, director of the WCC Commission on International Affairs, are attending the meetings, and the WCC is co-sponsoring a side event on debt, as well as supporting other events.
Meetings and side events stressed the importance of a fairer distribution of economic opportunity - especially for young people - without which disillusionment, despair, unrest and instability are likely to increase.
“Civil society events on the threats posed by extreme wealth, and calling for a new debt jubilee, reflected important priorities for the WCC,” said Prove.
WCC representatives also held a meeting with the secretariat of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.
Compelled by faith
During a panel discussion, Mtata addressed the question: how do you think the World Bank needs to change to better support low- and middle-income countries, especially those in Africa?
“Our faith compels us not only to respond to spiritual needs but also to engage the economic and social systems that profoundly affect human dignity and justice,” said Mtata, who brought attention to the case of Zimbabwe’s debt crisis—a challenge, he said, “that is not only economic but also profoundly moral.”
Zimbabwe ranks among Africa’s most indebted nations, with some 2025 estimates placing its debt-to-GDP ratio at about 46%.
"The country has been locked out of global financial markets since 2000, following default on World Bank repayments—the longest-running default on the continent,” said Mtata. “Despite genuine efforts to re-engage creditors, Zimbabwe’s unsustainable debt—rooted in colonial legacies, repeated climate shocks, and cases of economic mismanagement—continues to choke recovery, limit social investment, and weaken climate resilience.”
Behind these statistics, he reflected, are human faces: families struggling to survive, young people without jobs, and communities devastated by droughts and floods. “Debt is not merely a financial liability—it is a human and moral crisis that perpetuates poverty and robs people of hope,” he said. “That is why the World Council of Churches calls for a transformative, justice-oriented approach to debt resolution—one that addresses not only the symptoms but also the structural and historical roots of indebtedness.”
Mtata outlined calls from the WCC to cancel illegitimate colonial-era debts across all creditor groups as part of a broader process of historical redress, and establish a UN Framework Convention on Debt to ensure fair, transparent, and predictable mechanisms for sovereign debt restructuring.
Among other recommendations, he also called for including catastrophe clauses in all debt instruments to automatically suspend payments during crises, especially climate-induced disasters.
“Zimbabwe’s experience is a stark reminder of the urgent need to reimagine the global financial system,” he said. “For the World Council of Churches, debt is not just about numbers—it is about the restoration of right relationships among nations, peoples, and creation itself.”
