April 21, 2021 — Melanie Ward, Executive Director for the UK, said:
"Slashing aid at a time of unprecedented humanitarian crisis is a triple hammer blow: to the world’s most vulnerable people, to the idea of “Global Britain” and to the UK’s own law. The aid cuts outlined in Dominic Raab’s statement today undermine his own rhetoric of Global Britain “as a force for good in the world.” UK law states that the Government must spend 0.7% GNI on aid, whereas these cuts are a clear reduction to 0.5%.
The reduction in funding to humanitarian response, from £1.27bn last year to £900m this year, will leave thousands of vulnerable people without lifesaving aid. This comes at a time when countries around the world are at risk of famine, with 270 million people facing acute levels of hunger.
This decision comes after months of uncertainty. The Government’s lack of transparency around the process and criteria for making these cuts has already seriously hampered the work of organisations working on the frontline. Our own programmes in Syria have been without funding since 1 April because of Government indecision, meaning health clinics and protection for vulnerable women and children have effectively ceased operating.
These cuts sever lifelines for the most vulnerable. In countries like Syria, 210,000 people rely on food aid assistance paid for by UK Aid. We have already seen the consequences on our programmes in crisis-affected places like Syria, Lebanon, northeast Nigeria and Sierra Leone, where thousands of people have been impacted.
In the year when the UK hosts the G7 and COP26, they should be showing global leadership, not rowing back progress. The Government must urgently reconsider its position. Thousands of lives hang in the balance."