PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
EXTENDING THE DEBT RELIEF (DEVELOPING COUNTRIES) ACT 2010 (29 March 2011)

That this House welcomes the Government's decision to make the landmark Debt Relief (Developing Countries) Act 2010 permanent; notes that the Act currently applies only to each part of the United Kingdom and that poor developing countries therefore remain vulnerable to the possibility of being sued by vulture funds for excessive claims in courts located in other British territories; expresses concern that in November 2010 a US vulture fund, FG Hemisphere Associates LLC, circumvented the UK law and won a $100 million judgement against Democratic Republic of Congo in a Jersey court for a debt the firm bought in 2003-04 for just $37 million, and which was incurred during the rule of dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in the 1980s; and therefore calls on the Government to extend the Act's remit to all British Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories, and to also continue taking a global lead on this issue by working with the US and France, which together now account for the majority of legal actions lodged by vulture funds, to see similar legislation adopted in those two countries.

Sponsored by:
Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench)