Cutting UK overseas aid - a betrayal of the most vulnerable

Ethiopian farmer views parched field - CAFOD

Aid agencies are warning of the dire consequences of the Prime Minister's announcement today that the government is planning to cut international aid spending from next year.

Christine Allen, Director and CEO of CAFOD (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development) said: "The decision by the British government to reduce ODA from 0.5% to 0.3% means that in some of the most vulnerable places on earth, more people will die and many more will lose their livelihoods.

"Coming so soon after the USAID freeze, this is another lifeline being pulled away from those in desperate need, at a time when the world feels increasingly precarious.

"The UK has a choice to make: to support those in need or turn our backs on them. What we decide speaks to the very core of who we want to be as a society.

"If we are seeing the decline of aid to support the world's most vulnerable communities, then the government must show serious ambition to reform the global economy - including the broken global debt system - to enable those most in need to emerge from poverty."

Christian Aid's Director of Policy, Public Affairs and Campaigns, Osai Ojigho, said: "The world's most marginalised communities are facing a dramatic and deepening poverty crisis, made worse by conflict and the climate crisis. These cuts - a political decision echoing Trump's race to the bottom on aid - are nothing short of a betrayal that will erode trust and fan the flames of global insecurity.

Osai Ojigho added: "We must reject the false choice being spun between defence spending and fulfilling our responsibilities to people in crisis. Ministers can show global leadership by taxing wealthy polluters and compelling private creditors to cancel debts to countries in crisis, but will they?"

LINKS

CAFOD: https://cafod.org.uk/
Christian Aid: www.christianaid.org.uk/