Christian relief and development agency Tearfund is immensely saddened that Britain is cutting back on its overseas aid programmes in many Latin American, East European and central Asian countries in order to pay for the reconstruction of Iraq.
The Department for International Development (DfiD) announced this week that £100 million would be diverted from Middle Income Countries (MICs) over the next two years to projects in and around Baghdad.
It is feared that more than 20 countries will be affected, and that some countries like Peru, Honduras, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Macedonia might see aid withdrawn completely. Aid to countries such as South Africa, Russia, China, Sri Lanka, Bolivia, Jamaica, Albania and Kosovo will be substantially reduced.
Speaking on behalf of Tearfund, Advocacy Director Andy Atkins commented “ We are very concerned that the re-direction of funds breaches undertakings given by Tony Blair that money would not be re-directed away from other programmes to pay for Iraq. We urge the government to use additional funds for reconstruction, and not funds diverted from existing aid programmes that serve the poor in many parts of the world.”
Gordon Davies, Tearfund Regional Manager Latin America & Caribbean added, “ We are immensely saddened by these cutbacks. The countries affected might well fall within what’s termed ‘the Middle Income’ bracket, but our experience on the ground is that many are still characterised by political instability and areas of chronic poverty. Moreover, many of these countries are vulnerable to natural disasters. Honduras is still recovering from the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch for example and withdrawing aid from countries like these might have serious repercussions on their future development.”