Prioritise humanitarian spending in the Middle East
2 July 2014
DFID should continue to prioritise humanitarian spending in the Middle East and press other EU nations to do the same warn MPs.
- Report: UK Support for Humanitarian Relief in the Middle East
- Report: UK Support for Humanitarian Relief in the Middle East (PDF 2.91MB)
- Inquiry: UK Support for Humanitarian Relief in the Middle East
- International Development Committee
The UK Government should press France, Spain, Italy and other European countries to increase their contributions to the humanitarian relief for the Syrian refugee crisis and those nations affected by say MPs on the International Development Committee.
Launching a report examining UK support for humanitarian relief in the Middle East, Sir Malcolm Bruce, Chair of IDC Committee, said today,
“Humanitarian relief to the Middle East is critical to long term stability in the region so the UK can be proud that it has already committed £600 million in humanitarian assistance to the grave refugee crisis that has arisen from the Syrian civil war and is currently the second-largest bilateral donor to that relief effort.
“It is lamentable that some other European nations have so manifestly failed to pull their weight in the Syrian refugee crisis and the UK should do more to secure significant contributions from other large EU nations.
“We argue that the overwhelming emphasis of UK funded humanitarian relief should be to help refugees remain in their own region, so that they have the potential to return home when this becomes possible.
“Linked to that we call for of the bulk of humanitarian effort in the region to shift away from a focus on refugee camps to providing support for the majority of Syrian refugees who are currently residing in towns and villages in Lebanon or Jordan. This is something many donors remain reluctant to do, the UK must lead the way.
“To that end we recommend that DFID use national plans as the basis for its assistance to Lebanon and Jordan, as well as launching a medium-term development programme in Jordan.
“We also call for a clear priority to be given to the urgent provision of education for Syrian refugee children to avoid the risk of a lost generation.
“In addition, we challenge the UK Government to press France, Spain, Italy and other European countries - who have so far manifestly failed to pull their weight in the Syrian refugee crisis - to increase their contributions to the humanitarian relief effort in the Middle East.”
The Committee also calls on DFID to become far more transparent about how much contingency funding it sets aside for responses to new humanitarian crises going forward.
Sir Malcolm added
“It is important that DFID makes clear how its increasing expenditure on humanitarian relief is affecting bilateral programmes in Low income African countries“