The West’s cuts to international aid have made the lives of the world's most vulnerable women extremely difficult, a leading UN representative has said.
Reem Alsalem, the UN’s special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, warned that while the US and UK had for decades been at the forefront of supporting the women, peace and security agenda, “for them now to step away sets a very dangerous precedent”.
“It basically gives the message to other countries that, yes, you can step away from this and there are no consequences because after all these are wealthy countries,” Ms Alsalem told the UK Parliament’s international development committee.
Despite the recent significant aid budget cuts, if Britain and the US “cannot continue to prioritise” the women, peace and security issue “then what message are we giving to other countries?” she asked.
Sarah Champion, MP, the committee’s chairwoman, also suggested there would be a 25 per cent decrease in staffing for women, peace and security.
Prof Toni Haastrup, chairwoman of global political at the University of Manchester, said: “Money pays for expertise so losing 25 per cent of the expertise that is within the foreign office I would consider to be a very, very bad idea."
Abandonment unthinkable
David Miliband, the chief executive of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), used a visit to London this week to give assurances organisations like his were “not going to abandon” the world’s most impoverished despite the drastic cuts.
The former UK foreign secretary has seen his organisation’s budget cut by $400 million to $1.1 billion but has promised that, despite the massive reduction, humanitarian relief charities would not perish.
“Let's not fall for the claim that when the money goes down we go out of business, because the needs don't go away,” he told the launch of Promising Development: The Future of Aid in an Uncertain World, a collection of essays.
Like many other charities, the IRC has seen a drastic reduction in US financing since President Donald Trump took office for the second time, which as America used to provide more than 30 per cent of international aid has had a dramatic impact.
But Mr Miliband, whose humanitarian charity reached 36 million people in more than 40 countries last year, said from “day one” of the cuts the IRC vowed that “if you're a child in a malnutrition centre that we're running in Nigeria or anywhere else, we're not going to close that malnutrition centre come hell or high water”.
The IRC, which was founded by Albert Einstein in 1933 in the face of Nazi oppression, also helps refugees to settle in cities across Europe and the US. Mr Miliband, 60, promised that if there was a child in the US legal system who had an asylum claim “and we are your legal representative, we're not going to abandon you”.
Under siege
In the booklet that accompanied the event, part-hosted by the Labour-supporting Fabian Society, Mr Miliband wrote how the US had long "been the anchor of global aid system" but this was now undermined by the cuts instigated by the Department of Government Efficiency, known as Doge.
He said: “The sense of mission that has come from being under siege is very, very strong, and we're not the only organisation that is under siege in the US at the moment, but the sense of commitment to the mission has brought out entrepreneurialism, care and commitment."
He was determined the cuts should be a “learning, teachable moment” and that “the really big lesson of losing $400 million is that you can stew about it or you can do something about it”.
The former politician, who served on the cabinets of prime ministers Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, highlighted that AI was helping the aid sector reduce costs. He cited an example in the Democratic Republic of Congo where it was being used to diagnose monkeypox within five minutes, instead of a two-week wait for test results.
“There are 200 rare diseases in Africa that have never been mapped in any health diagnostic system. We're determined to do that,” he added.
Gulf aid
During the event at the Royal Society in London on Monday night, Anneliese Dodds MP also highlighted the negative impact of US and UK cuts.
The former international development minister, who resigned from her post in February after Prime Minister Keir Starmer ordered cuts of £6 billion ($7.9 billion) to the UK's overseas aid budget, said that not only was there pressure on the system but “sometimes active disruption that's coming from the current US administration”.
But she praised the Gulf states for stepping up their aid, telling The National she was "impressed" with the UAE’s significant contributions, particularly to Gaza.
“We're seeing new actors becoming more involved in this arena,” she said in her speech. “We see Gulf countries, for example, becoming much more significant within the humanitarian and development context. We see other countries as well from the Global South increasingly leading.”
