Over 100 charities have signed a statement warning the government that merging the Department for International Development (DfID) with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) would be damaging.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has planned a “revolutionary” structure that will see the DfID merge with FCO.
The statement, issued by Bond, a network for international development organisations, and signed by leaders of over 100 aid charities, said:
“Merging DFID with the FCO would risk dismantling the UK’s leadership on international development and humanitarian aid.
“It suggests we are turning our backs on the world’s poorest people, as well as some of the greatest global challenges of our time: extreme poverty, climate change and conflict.
UK aid risks becoming a vehicle for UK foreign policy, commercial and political objectives when it first and foremost should be invested to alleviate poverty.
By far the best way to ensure that aid continues to deliver for those who need it the most is by retaining DfID as a separate Whitehall department, with a secretary of state for international development, and by pledging to keep both independent aid scrutiny bodies: the Independent Commission for Aid Impact and the International Development Select Committee.
Signatories include the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, British Red Cross and ActionAid UK.
Original source: Civilsociety
Published on 17 December 2019
