2025 is a key year for debt justice. With countries in the global south facing the worst debt crisis in history, there’s an urgent need for debt relief and cancellation, as well as structural global finance architecture reform. The stakes today are higher than ever, with growing recognition of a deeper injustice: a mounting ecological debt that has disproportionately burdened the global south, fueling inequality and environmental destruction.

In this vein, 2025 offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to deliver debt cancellation and global debt architecture reform, with both the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), taking place in Seville, Spain, and the Catholic Jubilee happening this year. Several civil society organisations are mobilising around debt justice for Jubilee, particularly in the context of the upcoming FfD4 Conference. This blog will serve as a guide to how to get engaged in the Jubilee year.

The Jubilee tradition of debt forgiveness

Twenty-five years after the historic Jubilee 2000 debt campaign, Pope Francis has pronounced 2025 as the Jubilee Year of Hope. In a powerful appeal, he urged wealthy nations to “acknowledge the gravity of so many of their past decisions and determine to forgive the debts of countries that will never be able to repay them,” emphasising that this isn’t about charity, it’s about justice.

The term “jubilee” comes from the Hebrew tradition of periodically freeing debt slaves, but the tradition of massive debt forgiveness dates back more than 2000 years to ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. The Catholic Church adopted the tradition of Jubilee years in 1300 and has been celebrating it every 25 years since 1470.

The Jubilee 2000 campaign mobilised millions of people across more than 40 countries to demand debt relief for the world’s most impoverished and indebted countries. It ended up being one of the most successful campaigns in civil society mobilisation history and was pivotal in cancelling more than US$130 billion of debt in 35 low-income countries.

The 2025 Jubilee campaign

The call to action is clear! At the end of last year, Caritas Internationalis, along with various debt justice and faith based organisations, launched a new international Jubilee campaign for everyone - faith-based and secular organisations alike. Eurodad has already joined, and you can be a part of it too!

The Jubilee 2025 campaign seeks to mobilise grassroots activists, national organisations, and international networks around a shared vision of debt justice.

The campaign is promoting 3 main asks:

• Stop the debt crisis now by cancelling and remedying unjust and unsustainable debts, without economic policy conditions
• Prevent debt crises from happening again by addressing their root causes, reforming the global financial system to prioritise people and the planet
• Establish a permanent, transparent, binding and comprehensive debt framework within the United Nations

Organisations joining the campaign also have the option to add national advocacy asks, such as government accountability, national calls to support debt legislation, or transparency in public spending, amongst others.

The campaign will run across key international events in 2025:

• The 4th Financing For Development Conference in Seville, Spain, 30-3 July
• World Social Summit in Doha, Qatar, 4 to 6 November
• COP30 in Belém, Brazil, 10-21 November
• G20 Summit in South Africa, 22-23 November

• Sign the petition here and add the name of your organisation to the list of supporters
• You are also welcome to use the petition to promote shared goals, including hosting it on your organisational website, as long as the core messaging aligns with the broader campaign narrative
• Reach out to apicella [at] caritas.va to learn more

Other mobilisations for Jubilee 2025

A range of creative and action-packed activities have been launched under the Jubilee 2025 banner. Below is a snapshot for you to join or to inspire your own mobilisation!

Debt4Climate - a powerful grassroots movement leading a Jubilee campaign will feature a series of themed dates throughout the year, including:

• Jubilee of Armed Forces
• Jubilee of Artists
• Jubilee of Workers
• Jubilee of Governments
• Jubilee of Migrants

There are plans for European caravans to head to Seville as part of FfD4, and for Latin American caravans to arrive in Belém as part of the COP30 activities. Policy advocacy efforts will promote debt audits to challenge the legitimacy of debt. Reach out to info [at] debtforclimatee.org to learn more.

“Cancel debt, choose hope” UK, a campaign led by a coalition of UK-based organisations, including Debt Justice UK, CAFOD, Christian Aid, and Debt4Climate UK, was launched earlier this year with a rally outside the Treasury.

Around 30 organisations signed a joint statement urging the UK government to take action on debt justice. Watch the campaign video. Additionally, the coalition has been pushing for MPs to support the passage of a backbench ‘Debt Relief’ Bill through the UK parliament. Joint actions are being organised throughout the year, including around FfD, along with plans to be part of a mass lobby of MPs in July.

• Sign the petition here (signatures collected by the UK coalition will be added to the petition launched by Caritas Internationalis)
• Reach out to elizabeth [at] debtjustice.org to learn more

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In France, our member organisation CCFD-Terre Solidaire is gearing up to mobilise its volunteers' network. CCFD’s volunteers will engage with the public and promote the petition as an initial mobilisation action before FfD4. The organisation is looking to bridge the gap between public mobilisations and advocacy to influence the French government. Around April, additional mobilisation activities will be launched.

• Sign the petition here (French) (signatures collected will be added to the petition launched by Caritas Internationalis
• Follow CCFD on Instagram and TikTok to stay up to date
• Reach out to a.dancert-verot [at] ccfd-terresolidaire.org to learn more

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In North America, KAIROS Canada is leading the Jubilee campaign in the country hosting the G7 this year, in partnership with Citizens for Public Justice, Development and Peace – Caritas Canada, the Office of Religious Congregations for Integral Ecology, and The Canadian Council of Churches. Together, they are mobilising communities of faith and conscience to advocate for change and take collective action. KAIROS is also organising a People’s Forum in Calgary, Alberta, from 12 to 15 June, to coincide with the G7 Summit.

• Sign the petition here
• Reach out to info [at] kairoscanada.org to learn more

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Also in North America, our partner Jubilee USA and other US faith-based organisations are organising actions for Jubilee year. Globally, the World Council of Churches has also joined the Jubilee 2025 mobilisation. Their plans include inter-faith actions to support the call for debt cancellation.

Your turn to take action!

These are just some examples of the mobilisations being prepared, but you can join the movement for debt justice by organising your own. Disseminate the petition, add the petition to your website, organise a rally, an awareness raising or capacity building event or webinar, share the messages on social media, or join the many actions that will be organised by others throughout 2025!