Category Archives: Aid

Assad forces’ shelling in Syria causes 5,000 civilians to flee

Posted on by

At least 31 people killed since start of June amid government attacks on Idlib area

About 5,000 civilians in the north-west of Syria have been forced to flee their homes after more government shelling targeting the contested area, a local aid agency said.

At least 31 people have died since the beginning of June, victims of Bashar al-Assad’s forces hitting civilian buildings in southern Idlib province. The buildings included a hospital, displacement camp school, and a White Helmets headquarters. The number of dead includes three children and a civil defence worker who was killed in an attack on the town of Qastoun on Saturday.

Continue reading...

UK aid cut behind $284m fall in global humanitarian spending

Posted on by

Estimated UK cut of $900m offsets increases by others nations, according to annual Global Humanitarian Assistance Report

International humanitarian spending by public donors dropped by $284m (£204m) between 2019 and 2020, and UK the government cut its humanitarian funding by the most of any major western country, according to a new report from the independent Development Initiatives has found.

Its annual Global Humanitarian Assistance Report is regarded as one of the best sources for objective statistics on aid trends and humanitarian needs, and the report highlights the extraordinary pressure now being placed on UN-coordinated humanitarian appeals.The total UK cut – put at $900m – offsets increases by others. Humanitarian assistance can be both multilateral or bilateral, but does not cover all overseas aid designed to provide long-term resilience. The UK has cut its large aid budget due to an unprecedented cut in the size of the economy and priority given to dealing with the impact of Covid in the UK.

Continue reading...

‘Latin America will never be the same’: Venezuela exodus reaches record levels

Posted on by

Country at a ‘tipping point’ that could affect wider region, experts warn, as ‘donor fatigue’ causes aid shortfall

The continuing exodus of millions of Venezuelans is reaching “a tipping point” as the response to the crisis remains critically underfunded.

More than 5.6 million have left the country since 2015, when it had a population of 30 million, escaping political, economic and social hardships. It has become the largest external displacement crisis in the region’s history, and the most underfunded.

Continue reading...

David Miliband charity pushes ‘white supremacy culture’, workers allege

Posted on by

International Rescue Committee hires law firm to review internal policies as leadership accused of ‘belittling and gaslighting’ staff

The International Rescue Committee reinforces “white supremacy culture”, staff have alleged, with the aid organization subsequently hiring a law firm to review its policies relating to discrimination, harassment and retaliation, the Guardian can reveal.

Headed by former UK foreign secretary David Miliband, the IRC is a major NGO with 20,000 staff and volunteers and a budget of $800m. It delivers aid in more than 40 countries, primarily in Africa, and helps resettle refugees across the US, with operations mainly directed out of New York.

Continue reading...

Eradicating polio is finally within reach. Why is the UK taking its foot off the pedal? | Anne Wafula Strike

Posted on by

Instead of cutting the aid budget – including 95% from the plan to stamp out the disease – Britain should take a global lead

Despite the Covid pandemic, there have been just two recorded cases of wild polio in 2021 – in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the two remaining hiding places for the disease. But eradication is not guaranteed. Polio is virulent and spreads quickly. Even one case poses a threat to unvaccinated children everywhere, which is why a new strategy launched last week by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) outlines a plan to utilise this small window of opportunity for the world to end polio for good.

A 99.9% fall in polio cases globally in recent decades is thanks in large part to the GPEI and its supporters. The British government’s recent announcement that it will slash its contributions to the GPEI by more than 95% has been a body blow. The funding cut amounts to almost a quarter of the annual World Health Organization polio eradication budget.

Continue reading...

UK aid cuts to Bangladesh NGO a ‘gut punch’, says charity head

Posted on by

Withdrawal from long-term partnership catastrophic, says Brac, affecting women and girls’ education and those in extreme poverty

The UK government’s funding cuts to the world’s largest international non-governmental organisation are a “gut punch” after a successful 10-year £450m partnership, according to a director.

Asif Saleh, executive director of Brac Bangladesh, said the cuts will leave hundreds of thousands of girls without an education, millions of women and girls without access to family planning and hundreds of thousands of people in extreme poverty without support.

Continue reading...

Johnson accused of hypocrisy over G7 girls’ education pledge

Posted on by

Announcement of £430m funding for 90 countries came only weeks after ‘inexcusable’ foreign aid cuts

• G7 summit: latest news and reaction

Boris Johnson was accused of hypocrisy after announcing at the G7 leaders summit he would provide £430m of extra UK funding for girls’ education in 90 developing countries only weeks after his government made “inexcusable cuts” of more than £200m set aside for the same cause from its bilateral programme this year.

The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, announced in April that he was providing only £400m from the main UK aid budget for girls’ education in 2021, down from £600m in 2019. Johnson has dismissed stories of aid cuts, and their consequences as “lefty propaganda”, but refused to hold a Commons vote on the issue.

Continue reading...

UK to give 100m Covid vaccine doses to poorer countries within a year

Posted on by

At least 1bn doses due from G7 but campaigners say package does not address structural problems

The UK will donate 100m surplus coronavirus vaccine doses within the next year to low-income countries as part of at least 1bn doses due from the G7.

The US has promised to buy 500m Pfizer vaccines at a cost of $3bn for distribution to 100 poorer countries, with 200m to be distributed this year, in addition to releasing 80m of its surplus by the end of June.

Continue reading...

Voluntourism: new book explores how volunteer trips harm rather than help

Posted on by

‘Don’t do as we did,’ says Pippa Biddle, who highlights colonial structure of industry where unqualified Western tourists pay to volunteer abroad

Seven years ago, Pippa Biddle wrote a blog post about volunteering abroad. She recounted her struggles speaking Spanish to children living with HIV in the Dominican Republic and how local people in Tanzania would spend all night redoing the construction work she and her classmates had done poorly.

“Taking part in international aid where you aren’t particularly helpful is not benign,” Biddle wrote. “It’s detrimental.”

Continue reading...

Johnson likely to defy Tory rebels by ignoring order for vote on aid cuts

Posted on by

At least 40 Conservative MPs are fighting on to get overseas funding restored after setback in Commons

Boris Johnson has set himself on a collision course with scores of his MPs as No 10 suggested it would defy an order by the House of Commons speaker to bring a vote on swingeing foreign aid cuts.

Between 40 and 50 Conservative MPs were said to be considering defying the government on Monday before an ambush in the Commons was thwarted, with rebels now exploring options including legal action.

Continue reading...

UK foreign aid cuts ‘will leave 100,000 refugees without water’

Posted on by

Aid agencies write to Foreign Office minister as pressure grows on Boris Johnson ahead of Commons vote

UK aid cuts of 42% will leave about 70,000 people without health services and 100,000 without water in Cox’s Bazar, the world’s largest refugee settlement, before the deadly cyclone season, the Foreign Office minister for Asia has been warned.

A private letter sent to him last week by a group of aid agencies working in the area comes before a vote on Monday designed to force ministers to guarantee they will restore UK aid to 0.7% of gross national income next year.

Continue reading...

Tory aid cuts ‘tarnish’ UK reputation, warns UN humanitarian chief

Posted on by

Mark Lowcock says funds slashed affect key issues on G7 agenda, as party rebels prepare to vote for reversal

A senior UN diplomat has warned Boris Johnson that his decision to slash overseas aid is tarnishing international faith in Britain’s trustworthiness at a crucial moment, as he called on the government to back Tory demands for a swift reversal of the cuts.

With Conservative rebels increasingly confident they have enough votes to inflict a humiliating government defeat before the G7 meeting in Cornwall late this week, the head of the UN’s office for humanitarian affairs said Johnson had demonstrated “a failure of kindness and empathy” that was undermining Britain’s reputation.

Continue reading...

John Major joins push to overturn cut to UK overseas aid budget

Posted on by

Intervention means all five living former prime ministers have voiced their opposition to the move

John Major has thrown his weight behind efforts to overturn government cuts to the UK’s overseas aid.

Ahead of a possible Commons vote on the issue next week, the former prime minister said the UK needed to remain “a nation that keeps its word”.

Continue reading...

‘A hammer blow’: how UK overseas aid cuts affect the world’s most vulnerable

Posted on by

Axe falls on projects for Yemen, Syria, Rohingya refugees and people affected by famine in Africa

The government claimed Britain would be a “force for good” in the world when it defended merging the Department for International Development and the Foreign Office last year, but it soon announced £4bn in cuts to aid.

Charities instead warned that the world’s most vulnerable people would be hit by the “deadly force” of Britain’s new policies.

Continue reading...

‘Sponsor a child’ schemes attacked for perpetuating racist attitudes

Posted on by

Using individual children to ‘sell’ schemes to rich donors is similar to ‘poverty porn’ images of past, say experts, as calls grow to decolonise aid

International child sponsorship schemes have come under attack for perpetuating racist thinking, as an apology by a charity to thousands of children in Sri Lanka has sparked a debate over the money-raising schemes.

Plan International last week admitted it had made “mistakes” over its exit from Sri Lanka in 2020, following criticism from donors and former employees that it had failed 20,000 vulnerable children in the country.

Continue reading...

Protesters call on banks to ‘drop African debt’ in wake of Covid

Posted on by

World’s poorest nations saddled with ‘imprisoning’ debt, hampering responses to the pandemic, say activists protesting HSBC meeting

Activists at a demonstration outside the annual general meeting of HSBC in London have demanded the bank and other financial giants provide debt relief to African countries hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

In an attempt to highlight the role of private creditors in the debt crises of the world’s poorest countries, campaigners with “drop the debt” banners gathered outside HSBC’s AGM at the Southbank Centre.

Continue reading...

Plan International accused of abandoning children in Sri Lanka exit

Posted on by

Children’s charity faces claims it failed vulnerable children and misled donors after shutting down activities in the country

One of the world’s largest children’s rights charities has admitted it “made a number of mistakes” when it left Sri Lanka abruptly last year, amid accusations it had misled the public and donors and failed 20,000 vulnerable children in the country.

Former employees and provincial governors who spoke to the Guardian described Plan International’s exit as “irresponsible”, “cynical and indefensible”.

Continue reading...

Gaza damage and Glasgow raids: human rights this fortnight in pictures

Posted on by

A roundup of the coverage on struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Myanmar to Peru

Continue reading...

UK accused of a ‘abandoning’ Rohingya with ‘catastrophic’ 40% aid cut

Posted on by

Children in overcrowded Cox’s Bazar settlement likely to suffer most from reduced humanitarian spending, say campaigners

The government has been accused of abandoning Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh after cutting aid to the humanitarian response by more than 40%.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) pledged £27.6m to the humanitarian sector’s joint response plan launched this week, compared with £47.5m last year.

Continue reading...

UK civil servants given just days to prepare £2.9bn aid cuts in 2020

Posted on by

Cuts were agreed on the basis of a forecast shown five days later to be too pessimistic, report finds

UK civil servants were given five to seven working days to prepare 30% cuts in the overseas aid budget last summer, including a £730m cut to bilateral aid that it later emerged was unnecessary.

The cuts were agreed in July 2020 on the basis of a single forecast reduction in the size of the UK economy, which was shown to be too pessimistic five days after the cuts package was signed off.

Continue reading...