Robin Cook warns of threat to aid from war against terrorism
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《英国医生杂志》
One of the UK government抯 leading opponents of the war in Iraq, former foreign secretary Robin Cook, has warned that Britain抯 reputation on overseas aid is under threat from the war against terrorism.
Mr Cook, who resigned from his government post in March 2003 in protest at Prime Minister Tony Blair抯 plans to support President George Bush in the war in Iraq, argues that the aid effort is being undermined by the cost of the ongoing war.
"I find it particularly depressing that any of our aid effort should be diverted to fund the occupation of Iraq," he said, launching a report from the charity Christian Aid.
"Regardless of what any of us may think about the invasion of Iraq, we surely can all agree that the poor around the world should not pay for the consequences."
The report claims that aid is once more being viewed as a means of promoting the donor抯 own interests, as it was in the cold war.
Dr Daleeo Mukarji, director of Christian Aid, said: "Programmes designed to help poor people have been cut, budgets reallocated, and hopes dashed as donor priorities have been shifted.
"Moves currently being made between rich countries threaten to accelerate that process—with dangerous possible consequences."
The report says that in the past few years the United States, the European Union, and individual governments have started using the rhetoric of "opposing terrorism" as a basis for allocating aid. There is also a blurring of humanitarian action with military roles in countries such as Afghanistan.
Christian Aid claims that the situation for aid workers in Afghanistan is now far more dangerous than it ever was under the Taliban. "The emphasis put by US troops on the US led coalition goals—the hunting down of al-Quaeda and Taliban forces—has abandoned most of the country to lawlessness," says the report. "Whole areas of the country have been placed off limits and aid programmes abandoned," it continues.
Eleven aid workers were killed in Afghanistan during February and March this year. Three survivors said their Taliban attackers accused them of being US agents. Christian Aid has had to pull out of five projects in certain areas of Afghanistan because it was considered too dangerous.
According to the report, some of the world抯 poorest people are already paying for the war against terrorism, through cuts in aid to their communities.
The report says that the British government has started to cut aid to poor communities in "middle income" countries in Latin America, diverting the funding to the war in Iraq, despite an earlier commitment not to do this. Chancellor Gordon Brown has said that it is a "political imperative" to tackle the poverty that leads to civil wars, failed states, and havens for terrorists.
"Poor people must not, yet again, be bulldozed by the contingencies of a global strategy in which they have no voice," said Dr Mukarji.(London Lynn Eaton)
Mr Cook, who resigned from his government post in March 2003 in protest at Prime Minister Tony Blair抯 plans to support President George Bush in the war in Iraq, argues that the aid effort is being undermined by the cost of the ongoing war.
"I find it particularly depressing that any of our aid effort should be diverted to fund the occupation of Iraq," he said, launching a report from the charity Christian Aid.
"Regardless of what any of us may think about the invasion of Iraq, we surely can all agree that the poor around the world should not pay for the consequences."
The report claims that aid is once more being viewed as a means of promoting the donor抯 own interests, as it was in the cold war.
Dr Daleeo Mukarji, director of Christian Aid, said: "Programmes designed to help poor people have been cut, budgets reallocated, and hopes dashed as donor priorities have been shifted.
"Moves currently being made between rich countries threaten to accelerate that process—with dangerous possible consequences."
The report says that in the past few years the United States, the European Union, and individual governments have started using the rhetoric of "opposing terrorism" as a basis for allocating aid. There is also a blurring of humanitarian action with military roles in countries such as Afghanistan.
Christian Aid claims that the situation for aid workers in Afghanistan is now far more dangerous than it ever was under the Taliban. "The emphasis put by US troops on the US led coalition goals—the hunting down of al-Quaeda and Taliban forces—has abandoned most of the country to lawlessness," says the report. "Whole areas of the country have been placed off limits and aid programmes abandoned," it continues.
Eleven aid workers were killed in Afghanistan during February and March this year. Three survivors said their Taliban attackers accused them of being US agents. Christian Aid has had to pull out of five projects in certain areas of Afghanistan because it was considered too dangerous.
According to the report, some of the world抯 poorest people are already paying for the war against terrorism, through cuts in aid to their communities.
The report says that the British government has started to cut aid to poor communities in "middle income" countries in Latin America, diverting the funding to the war in Iraq, despite an earlier commitment not to do this. Chancellor Gordon Brown has said that it is a "political imperative" to tackle the poverty that leads to civil wars, failed states, and havens for terrorists.
"Poor people must not, yet again, be bulldozed by the contingencies of a global strategy in which they have no voice," said Dr Mukarji.(London Lynn Eaton)