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   No UK aid for brutal regimes, says MP
 
  

ETHIOPIA: Following election-related violence and the detention of opposition supporters (seen here), DFID changed the way it channelled its aid through the Ethiopian government

South Norfolk MP Richard Bacon has said that aid should not go to countries who fail to honour their promises to the UK, as a new report finds that the government has not been checking regularly that the countries it helps are honouring their commitments to human rights.

Mr Bacon said: “The Department for International Development wants the countries it helps to commit to reduce poverty, strengthen financial management and respect human rights”.

ETHIOPIA: Following election-related
 violence and the detention of
 opposition supporters (above), DFID
changed the way it channelled its
aid through the Ethiopian government


“While DFID is keeping a close eye on the first two commitments, it is not giving the promise to respect human rights its full attention”. 

“DFID must make sure that the countries it supports keep to their word. Governments that violate human rights should not get a single penny from the British taxpayer”.

Mr Bacon, MP for South Norfolk, was speaking as the National Audit Office published its report on budget support for developing countries. Budget support is aid which the Department for International Development (DFID) gives directly to the government of a developing country, rather than to aid agencies working on the ground. DFID provided £461 million in budget support to 13 countries in 2006-07, up from £268 million five years ago. This amounts to nearly 20 per cent of its total bilateral expenditure.

DFID requires a shared commitment to three objectives as a basis for providing aid through budget support: reducing poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals; strengthening financial management and accountability; and respecting human rights and other international obligations. The report finds that, while DFID’s monitoring of the first two commitments is well established, monitoring of the commitment to human rights has been less systematic.
 

8 February 2008
 

See also:
NAO REPORT: Providing budget support to developing countries
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© Richard Bacon 2008