Government's White Paper Commitment Disappoints UK Christian Organisations

|TOP|While Christian organisations in the UK welcomed DFID’s (Department For International Development) White Paper commitment, they have also expressed disappointment at what they regard as a number of shortcomings.

According to Christian Aid, the government’s new development white paper is a classic curate’s egg: both positive and disappointing in equal measure.

The White Paper stated: “Climate change, together with natural resource depletion, is the biggest threat facing the world. Climate change is a huge challenge which is set to put unprecedented pressure on resources and people in developing countries. Developing countries will need support to adapt to the impact of climate change and urgent action is needed to cut emissions and prevent dangerous levels of climate change in the future.”

Charles Abugre, Christian Aid’s Head of Policy, said it was comendable to see that the UK government was serious about following through on its development commitments, particularly in enshrining 0.7% of GDP as its annual aid budget.

“However in certain key areas the government has proved overly timid in pursuing its reform agenda,” said Mr Abugre.

|AD|Likewise, Tearfund welcomes DFID’s plans to increase the amount spent on water and sanitation in Africa to £200 million by 2010, but expresses its disappointment that the White Paper does not do enough to reform unfair trade rules or combat AIDS.

Paul Cook, Tearfund’s head of public policy, said: “2.6 billion people worldwide still do not have access to sanitation services and this increase brings the target of achieving the Millennium Development Goals closer. Tearfund has lobbied hard on prioritising climate change and welcomes the government’s increased focus on it as a critical threat to sustainable development. However it is now crucial that DfID sets out more concrete steps for action and does not shy away from the difficult issue of how economic growth can be pursued without further degradation of the environment. Finally, Tearfund maintains that the failure to adequately protect developing countries from forced trade liberalisation is a glaring omission.”

Tearfund notes that the White Paper does not offer enough funding for HIV/AIDS. One year on from Gleneagles, overall funding for HIV and AIDS programmes is still a little over half of what is needed. £10-12 billion annually is needed to achieve universal access by 2010 but current estimates predict that only £4.88 billion will be available in 2006. The relief agency states that long term and full funding of the Global Fund must be a priority.