By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
In the middle of the coronavirus pandemic last July, the British government cut its global aid budget by £2.9 billion and reduced spending on international development from 0.7 per cent to 0.5 per cent of gross national income (GNI).
In April 2021, the United Kingdom cut by 85 per cent aid funding pledged to the United Nations Population Fund, from £154 million to £23 million this year.
London said Covid meant tough but necessary decisions were needed.
And now it has slashed by 60 per cent its funding to the United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which means the UN agency which distributes humanitarian aid to children around the world, will get £16 million this year, down from £40 million.
UNICEF has warned of “serious consequences” for children, particularly those affected by Covid-19. But, again, the British Foreign Office said the pandemic has forced it to make tough decisions.
UK slashes £4b from global aid
Cutting UK aid spending from 0.7 per cent of national income to 0.5 per cent means a reduction of more than £4 billion.
Some MPs defended the cuts at the time as being backed by the public, with some politicians arguing that domestic spending should come first during the pandemic.
Per the BBC, this cut is the latest to be announced as aid charities and agencies begin to reveal the impact of the government’s reduced overseas development budget.
UNICEF expresses concern
The UK committee for UNICEF said it was “deeply concerned” by the decision, stressing that it had been able to respond to the most pressing education, protection and health needs of children affected by Covid in 2020 thanks to London funding.
The committee said it was too soon to know the full impact of this and future cuts on the UNICEF programme but there was concern children living in some of the world’s worst crises and conflicts would suffer the consequences.
UNICEF acknowledged the “challenging” financial situation facing governments, but called on the UK government to return to spending 0.7 per cent of the national income on foreign aid from 2022 “at the latest”.
Tough take
A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told the BBC that “the seismic impact of the pandemic on the UK economy has forced us to take tough but necessary decisions, including temporarily reducing the overall amount we spend on aid.
“We will still spend more than £10bn this year to fight poverty, tackle climate change and improve global health.”
The BBC cited an internal Foreign Office memo it obtained which said funding for global water, sanitation and hygiene bilateral projects would be cut by more than 80 per cent, prompting criticism from leading charity, WaterAid.
Asked about the cuts, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the government had always been clear it intended to return to spending 0.7 per cent of national income on aid when it was “fiscally prudent to do so”.
‘Countering distortion’
Separately, the UK government has given the BBC World Service £8 million to help tackle disinformation and inaccurate news reporting around the world.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said it would allow the BBC to “take impartial journalism to many more people around the world, by countering those who distort the truth to mislead the public”.
The money comes on top of previous funding for the BBC’s World2020 programme, which was launched in 2016 and aims to expand the BBC’s global reach.
BBC director-general Tim Davie said through the programme the World Service has achieved an all-time record audience of 351 million, in 42 languages, with the BBC’s global news services now reaching 438 million every week.