Friday 30 November 2012

Are European countries becoming a collective aid tease?

Ah the joys of debating international aid and its merits, or lack thereof. Is it right or wrong to give aid to corrupt governments? What's the best way of giving aid?  Should European countries be giving aid when they are in such dire financial straits themselves?

These are issues which have been debated exhaustively in development circles but in the last few months, they seem to be more prominent than usual in the mainstream media of many European countries. There's a number of contributing factors for this- the UN report leaked this summer detailing Rwanda's alleged involvement in rebel activity in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo which led to a number of countries suspending aid (and then reinstating it. and then suspending it again) reignited the whole thing. Then we had revelations of large scale fraud in Uganda, with approximately 16 million Euro of aid being misappropriated by the Office of the Prime Minister. The issue of giving aid to middle income countries was also prominent in the media with Britain's announcement early this month that it will stop aid to India after 2015.

Much media debate and public outrage and where has it gotten us? Well, things are how they used to be - foreign aid is dependent on politics. Britain initially suspended aid to Rwanda only to again reinstate it. Just today, it suspended it again. A rather excellent Channel 4 news report earlier this week detailed the uncomfortably close relationship between the British Conservative party and Rwandan President, Paul Kagame.

Last week, the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs released its interim report into the Uganda/Irish Aid scandal. It found major collusion between Ugandan officials to commit fraud and also pointed out the failings of Irish Aid officials to pick up on the fraud. The report also suggested that the Irish Government would wait on the findings of the investigation by the Ugandan auditor general. The report is expected to be released next April.

There is little or no expectation however that the report and its recommendations will be implemented by Uganda's notoriously corrupt public officials. Should this fact alone not be a lesson to European governments giving aid to corrupt governments?

 There's a lot of problems with the way European governments currently give aid to the developing world but surely withdrawing it then reinstating it on a whim is not an improvement of any sort.

The point of this post is basically, the UK et al are being a bit of a prick tease with their aid budgets at the minute. For a more sophisticated, and much more knowledgeable, look at some of these issues have a look at this piece from the always excellent A View From the Cave.






Thursday 22 November 2012

What's been going on? Ireland, DRC and Sudan

It's been a busy two weeks or so. Last week was pretty much consumed by the story which emerged late Tuesday night of a young pregnant woman, Savita Halappanavar, who died in a Galway hospital having been denied a termination despite the fact that she was miscarrying. I don't think I've had a conversation since in which Savita's name hasn't come up. It's dominated everything- the media, everyday life. People have been organising/attending vigils and demonstrations across Ireland as well in London, Brussels and elsewhere.

There's been real anger and shame here in Ireland over this and quite rightly so. Our laws on abortion are archaic and although our Supreme Court ruled TWENTY YEARS ago that it is permissible to have a termination in Ireland if the life of the mother is at risk, legislation pertaining to this has still not been enacted.

This is not about abortion on demand. It is about saving women's lives.

I wrote a piece on this for A SafeWorld for Women which you can find here http://www.asafeworldforwomen.org/womens-rights/wr-europe/wr-ireland/3314-third-class-citizens.html

There's been a lot going on otherwise. I'm in the middle of preparing for exams but have been distracted by following events in the DRC- joining Twitter is probably the worst thing I have ever done, productivity wise. Goma fell to the M23 rebels earlier this week and it's unclear what will happen next. Will we see a repeat of the devastating 1998-2003 war?

Also reports emerged today of an attempted coup in Sudan. The Sudan Tribune has an early account here. It seems to be disgruntled NCP members, rather than any sort on continuation of Sudan Revolts, as some early reports claimed.

In the next few weeks, I will be publishing a feature on Sudanese female activists, interviewing journalists, bloggers, human rights activists and students. I'm really excited about this piece, profiling these women who face immense risks to carry out the work they do every day. Check back in a week or so to see more!

In the meantime, I've had to travel to Dublin twice this week as I, rather stupidly, mislaid my passport and am going to London this weekend. Dublin may be our capital city but I really am not a fan. I'm quite happy if the only way I cross the river Shannon is in an aeroplane.

But anyway, I'm looking forward to spending the next week or so in London, catching up with friends and celebrating The Kentishtowner's second birthday. I might squeeze in some study while I'm there too:)

Saturday 17 November 2012

Women Under Siege: Rape as a weapon of war

The Women Under Siege Project, an independent initiative of the Women's Media Centre, documents how rape and other forms of sexualised violence are used as tools of genocide and conflict in the 20th century and into the 21st. Less than a year old, Women Under Siege is a really original research site. It has original content, interesting blog posts and uses technology to document offences in real time- such as creating a live, crowd sourced map of rape in Syria (Disclaimer: I am a sometime contributor to their blog).

Rape is often considered to be something which 'happens' during conflict as if it is somehow insignificant or less serious than other crimes. Rape is much more than that however- it is a weapon which can be deployed to devastating effect. The International Criminal Court has recognised in numerous indictments that rape can be used as a tool of genocide. Rape can be used to destroy the social fabric of communities and forced pregnancies are also a way of 'cleansing or diluting' a particular ethnic group.

There is growing awareness of the reality of the use of rape as tool of conflict. Although it is hardly a new phenomenon, the use of sexualised violence in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s and Darfur in the early 2000s really brought the issue to attention.

There are a number of high level international initiatives aimed at combating the use of sexualised violence in conflict such as the UN's Stop Rape Now campaign. In May this year, the UK's Foreign Secretary William Hague launched the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative.

These initiatives may not seem like much - too theoretical perhaps- but they are highly significant. They signify a massive change in how sexual violence is viewed and are a massive step forward for the prevention of such crimes.  Hopefully concrete action will follow.