Aid cuts in the United Kingdom have increased the risk of atrocities by ending programs that can help prevent them, an expert told politicians Wednesday.
Humanitarian funding was decreased by 40% to 50%, said Denisa Delić, advocacy director at the International Rescue Committee, impacting “a number of different programs we [IRC] deliver in different countries.”
£1B of income at risk for UK NGOs
U.K. NGOs risk losing income from the EU and cuts to U.K. official development assistance, as well as softening public support and reduced retail revenue. One agency estimates that could add up to £1 billion.
Asked if the reductions had affected the risk of atrocities occurring, Delić told the International Development Committee: “I absolutely agree the cuts have had an impact. At the moment, we want to focus on making sure that the remaining funding that’s being decided is going to the right places.”
The cut programs include “everything from provision of education, to health, to protection services,” she said, later citing these areas as a key “buffer to the root causes” of atrocities.
The U.K. government does not have a focused atrocity prevention strategy, but IDC has launched an inquiry into whether it should adopt one. Expert witnesses at Wednesday’s session stressed that atrocity prevention should be seen as distinct from conflict prevention and not be subsumed into broader development policy.
Because of unspecified “sensitivities,” Delić focused only on the example of protection programming, which she said “particularly demonstrates the impact of some of the cuts to aid and how that can translate to exacerbating conditions on the ground that allow for these violations to happen.”
For example, cutting an IRC program in Syria that was focused on protection monitoring and making assessments of marginalized people “will lead to less evidence for programmatic interventions aimed at helping these groups,” Delić said. Previously, the program was fully funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.
“Protection and monitoring is key to understanding the implications of attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, which means our ability to adapt as an operational agency is also impacted,” Delić said. “They are absolutely essential in our ability to respond to issues on the ground and should be seen as a vital package alongside the provision of other lifesaving goods.”
More generally, NGO workers in protection monitoring roles on the ground “can see things happening faster than at higher-level postings, which is crucial [for] community prevention work,” Delić said. Those people can “signal back when things are changing, dynamics are getting more difficult, to collect evidence.”
Amid a fast-shifting and increasingly fragile international environment — dubbed “the age of impunity” by IRC — the risk of atrocities, such as genocide, is believed by experts to be growing.
This is due to states not protecting their citizens, failures of diplomacy and the international legal system to deal with conflicts and violence, and a humanitarian aid system “overwhelmed by economic, social, and political breakdown,” according to Delić.
“We will continue to protect the world’s poorest,” an FCDO spokesperson said. “The UK is one of the largest aid donors and in 2021 we will have spent at least £10 billion to help save lives around the world including in places of humanitarian crisis such as Syria.”
Update, Jan. 13, 2022: This article has been updated with reaction from FCDO.
About the author
William Worley@willrworley
Will Worley is the Climate Correspondent for Devex, covering the intersection of development and climate change. He previously worked as UK Correspondent, reporting on the FCDO and British aid policy during a time of seismic reforms. Will’s extensive reporting on the UK aid cuts saw him shortlisted for ‘Specialist Journalist of the Year’ in 2021 by the British Journalism Awards. He can be reached at william.worley@devex.com.
