Reinstate the 0.7% of National Income Aid Commitment - Suggested email to your MP
Please ask the government to keep our commitment to the poorest during Covid — don’t drop the 0.7% target for international aid
Dear _____
I am writing to you to express grave concern about the huge cuts being made to UK Aid at this worrying time for the world, and to request you to do everything in your power to convince the government to reverse this decision, particularly in an upcoming vote in parliament on June 7th, (specifically as part of the Amendment NC4 to the Advanced Research and Invention Agency Bill).
At this historic moment, during a global crisis, rich countries such as the UK should be increasing our support to the most vulnerable.
The UK is proudly, and legally committed to spend 0.7% of GDP on aid. A promise to the world’s poorest people which was made by world leaders at the United Nations more than 30 years ago, and which all MPs from this government reaffirmed in their manifesto commitment at the last election in 2019. There has never been a more crucial time to keep this promise. Lives literally depend on it. Yet the UK government has chosen to abandon this manifesto promise in the middle of a global pandemic. As the true impact of cuts is being slowly revealed, it has become all too clear that the impact on life-saving programs will be catastrophic.
It is shocking to learn that countries facing humanitarian crises will not be spared in these cuts. Yemen, described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis by the UN, faces UK funding cuts of almost 60% despite impending famine. Other countries such as Syria, DRC, South Sudan and Somalia face similar brutal cuts according to reports.
The cuts appear to be having a particularly severe impact on programmes for women and children. At a time when global child and maternal mortality is predicted to increase for the first time in several decades as a result of the collateral impact of the pandemic, the UK government has slashed core funding to UNICEF by 60%, and cut funding to UNFPA for reproductive health by 85%, abandoning commitments which could have saved 250,000 maternal and child deaths according to the organisation. While malnutrition rises dramatically due to the pandemic, and 20 countries face the risk of famine according to the UN, the UK appears to have cut funding for nutrition relief by 80%, abandoning food programs which keep millions of children alive.
Infectious disease programmes are also facing huge cuts. UK funding to UNAIDS will be cut by more than 80%, undermining ongoing efforts to fight the HIV pandemic. Polio, a disease the UK could soon have been proud to have played a role in defeating, will see UK funding reduced by 95%, putting at risk crucial eradication efforts which have already been shaken by COVID-19. Neglected tropical diseases are also predicted to rise, yet the UK has almost wiped out its funding for these programmes. Furthemore, as COVID-19 transmission escalates in many low-resource settings, the UK has inexplicably cut funding for water, sanitation & hygiene by 80%, impairing efforts to reduce transmission not only of COVID-19, but of other deadly diarrhoeal diseases for children.
These cuts to aid are predicted to lead to hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths, particularly of women and children. The decision can only be described as cruel, or at best negligent.
The decisions we make during this time of crisis will make history and will come to shape our world and societies long after this pandemic ends. If funding is not urgently restored to levels which have been promised, this will represent a historic mistake which will tarnish the UK’s reputation, as the UK isolates itself as the only leading G7 nation to cut its aid in this way during the pandemic.
As my MP I appeal to you to do whatever you can to persuade the government to keep its promises on aid and urgently reverse these cuts.
Thank you
_______
Find your MP here to write to them
Coronavirus and Aid
https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2020/06/11/coronavirus-humanitarian-aid-response
DfID's funding to humanitarian settings 2015-2019
News Article - UK Aid facing billions in cuts
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/nov/17/uk-aid-budget-facing-billions-in-cuts