/CORRECTED/DEVELOPMENT-BRITAIN: Brown Resists Push to 0.7 Per Cent Aid

By Sanjay Suri Reprint | | Print |

Sanjay Suri

LONDON, May 16 2002 (IPS) - The British government is showing few signs of yielding to new pressures to agree on 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) for official development assistance to the poor countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown was pointedly silent when asked to state the government’s position on increasing aid to 0.7 per cent when he faced a parliamentary committee Tuesday this week. Campaigners for more aid are now waiting for the report of the parliamentary select committee to renew pressure on the government.

The select committee is due to deliver its report in July, ahead of an announcement by Brown on the British government’s stand on meeting the United Nations target of 0.7 per cent of GNI for aid to poor countries.

The British government is set to announce some increase in aid, but campaigners fear it will be well short of the 0.7 per cent target.

The all-party select committee is expected to support demands made by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) for Britain to meet the U.N. target. All 11 MPs on the select committee panel have already signed an early day motion in the House of Commons supporting 0.7 per cent of GNI for aid. A total of 289 MPs have signed the early day motion, which is a form of open resolution that MPs can support.

The MPs on the panel are from all three parties – Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. All three parties had pledged they would meet the 0.7 per cent target in their election manifestos last year.

Gordon Brown made no comment also when members of the select committee said they hoped that the British government would go beyond the 0.39 per cent figure agreed by the European Union at the Conference on Financing International Development in Monterrey, Mexico, in March.

Nor did Brown make commitments on other avenues for raising aid. He said 50 billion dollars would be needed for the International Development Trust Fund (IDTF) that has been proposed by the British government. When asked how this would work, Brown said it was only one of a range of options that were under consideration. It would, he said, seek to leverage in private money and existing funds to become “more a facility than a fund”.

Campaigners say there are indications that the government is backing away from the proposed fund in calling it only one in a range of options.

British leaders seem to be pushing for new management of existing resources rather than for new resources. Minister for International Development, Clare Short, who also gave evidence before the select committee said untying the overseas aid given annually would increase its impact by 12 to 20 per cent. Short condemned the “disgraceful ulterior motives” of some aid givers.

Short also said some NGOs are being “economically illiterate” in their demands for debt cancellation by way of aid. The demands “add up to a lot of nonsense when you get down to specifics,” she said.

Belen Vasquez, policy analyst with Action Aid, told IPS: “Britain has taken the lead in aid policies and programmes, but must also do something about the volume of aid to set an example.”

The strong economic countries in the European Unoin need only to reach a figure of 0.33 per cent for the EU to meet an average of 0.39 per cent, she said (some countries like Denmark, Sweden and Norway give more than 0.7 per cent).

There is also no clear indication what countries will be obliged to do after the EU manages an average of 0.39 per cent by 2006, Vasquez said. There simply is no commitment to what the EU will do to meet the Millennium Development Goals such as halving poverty levels and providing universal primary education if the money falls short to meet those goals, she said.

Several NGOs are looking to the British government to take the lead in an international campaign to find money to meet those goals. “We would hope that fine and passionate words from the government in Britain will be backed up by increased money for international development, increased market access and reduction of tariffs,” Jenny Ross from the British Overseas NGOs for Development (BOND) told IPS.

The Church of England, other faith groups, trade unions and the National Union of Students have now joined the campaign to press the government to announce a substantial increase in overseas aid ahead of the Johannesburg meeting.

The NGOs are looking to get British parliamentarians on their side. The 289 signatories to the early day motion are close to half of the 659 members of the House of Commons. That half-way mark is not of constitutional significance but crossing it would boost the campaign among British NGOs for increased government aid. More than 300 MPs have signed another early day motion for cancelling the debts of the poorest countries.

The report of the select committee will not be binding on the government. But a strong report from the committee would put the government under pressure to take its recommendations into account, and give NGOs and other groups fresh fuel for their campaign. Given the position taken by the government so far, there is a lot left for British NGOs to do.