Chris Bain responds to the Queen’s Speech

The Government has dropped its plans to introduce legislation in the new Parliamentary session to guarantee the spending of 0.7 per cent of national income on aid to the poorest countries. The Government did however reiterate its firm plans to reach the 0.7 per cent spending target by 2013.

CAFOD’s director Chris Bain has responded to the news that the Government has dropped its plans to introduce legislation in the new Parliamentary session to guarantee the spending of 0.7 per cent of national income on aid to the poorest countries. The Government did however reiterate its firm plans to reach the 0.7 per cent spending target by 2013.

“The 0.7% legislation is designed to insulate the commitment to aid from the pressures of day-to-day politics, so it is all the more disappointing that - for the time being - it appears to have fallen victim to those pressures,” said Chris Bain earlier today. “Of course, what is of paramount importance is that the UK meets and maintains its historic commitment to give 0.7% of national income on aid to the poorest communities in the world, and persuades other countries around the world to follow suit. But the legislation remains vital in order to cement that commitment for future generations, and we will therefore continue to push for it to be put into law as this session unfolds, and for the rest of this Parliament.

In the whole of this debate, we must never forget the transformative role that well-targeted aid can play in people’s lives, for example, giving people access to the basic needs of life like safe water and sanitation as well as shifting the balance of power within the broken food system so that small-scale farmers have a decent chance of making a living.”

Beyond 2015: what happens after the Milennium Development Goals?

CAFOD has also welcomed the announcement by the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon, that the Prime Minister has been appointed to co-chair a High Level UN Panel on plans to replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) when they expire in 2015. As co-chair of the Beyond 2015 campaign, which brings together 313 civil society organisations from over 70 countries to work on proposals for the post-MDG framework, CAFOD is recognised by the United Nations as one of the leading civil society agencies working on this agenda.

Chris Bain said: “There are no shortage of ideas about what should come after 2015 – but so far there has been a lack of political leadership in the debate. The High Level Panel has a critical opportunity to fill this gap, and that is why we warmly welcome the announcement that the Prime Minister will co-chair this panel, alongside his counterparts from Liberia and Indonesia. Their panel must model the way in which today’s leaders will approach this debate: transparent, engaged and based on a genuine partnership between North and South.
“As their first order of business, David Cameron and the panel must commission a major initiative to ensure that people living in poverty are directly engaged and influential in the debate. Leaders like David Cameron can provide a critical reality-check on whether post-MDG proposals are politically workable, but this means nothing if their input is not grounded in the real lives and perspectives of people in poverty. The days of solutions being imposed on the poorest countries by the richest are over, and any framework designed on that basis will be worthless.

“We must learn the lessons from the MDG process, and ensure that what replaces them is a new framework that builds on – but goes far beyond – the progress achieved by the MDGs. 2015 must be a beginning not just an end. But let us be clear: there are now less than 1,000 days until 2015 - a tiny amount of time for a challenge of this scale. Compare that to the 2012 London Olympics, which have been more than 5,000 days in the making.
“So today’s announcement presents an opportunity but also a grave warning. If David Cameron and his counterparts do not start engaging the poorest people right now, with the necessary clarity, urgency and resources required to achieve a strong and legitimate outcome, we will reach 2015 with no effective global plan for tackling poverty: a betrayal of responsibility and an abdication of leadership that will rightly shame our generation. That is the responsibility which David Cameron has today taken on, and we stand ready to help him.