The South has already repaid its external debt to the North, but the North refuses to recognize its debts to the South[El Sur ya ha pagado su deuda external al Norte, pero el Norte se niega a reconocer sus deudas con respecto al Sur]

This working paper dealing with developing countries' external debt is at the origin of a written statement presented by the Centre Europe Tiers-Monde (CETIM) during the March 2007 4th session of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations Organization in Geneva (item 2: implementation of the General Assembly Resolution 60/251 of 15 March 2006, UN symbol: A/HRC/4/NGO/17). Its message is clear: the South has already repaid its external debt to the North. As a matter of fact, the 145 developing countries and newly emerging market economies taken as a whole have paid, between 1980 and 2006, a cumulative amount of US$ 7673.7 billion in external debt service. During the same period, the amount of that debt increased from US$ 617.8 billion in 1980 to US$ 3150.6 billion in 2006, according to the IMF. Although they have already repaid in capital and interest, more than 12 times the amount due in 1980, these countries still bear the burden of external debt which is more than five times larger than that due at the start of the period.