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Bangladesh
15. Mr. Bennett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what aid her Department is currently providing to Bangladesh. [62757]
Clare Short:
We have a substantial programme in Bangladesh and expect to invest around £67 million in 1998-99. This includes £45 million for our normal
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bilateral co-operation activities, of which more than half is spent on direct poverty assistance, with projects in health and education, micro-credit, employment generation, and food production. Other projects target infrastructure development, and public sector reform. We are also providing £22 million additional assistance this year to assist recovery from the recent devastating floods.
16. Mr. Clapham:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what plans she has to assist the South African Government in combating AIDS. [62758]
Clare Short:
South Africa is one of the countries most badly affected by HIV/AIDS. The rate of new infections is estimated at 1,500 per day and 2.5 million people are already infected. South Africa's leaders are beginning to take the issue seriously and support for AIDS control and preventions is a priority for our development partnership. But the challenge also requires regional action and we are discussing with governments, UNAIDS and the European Commission how to intensify our support for sexual and reproductive health to develop more effective national and regional programmes.
17. Mr. St. Aubyn:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on the role of NGOs in the delivery of aid. [62759]
Clare Short:
NGOs have a very important role to play, along with other elements of civil society, in helping deliver programmes and in raising awareness of the needs and rights of poor people in both developing countries and Britain.
19. Mr. Watts:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps her Department is taking to improve the quality of EC development assistance. [62762]
Clare Short:
We have recently published our strategy for improving the quality of EC development assistance. It has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses. It was prepared in consultation with a wide range of interested bodies. The paper sets out 18 detailed objectives for the Department for International Development (DFID) for its partnership with the EC. The main focus is on: improving the poverty focus of the EC's programmes, in particular through forthcoming decisions on resource allocation; rationalising the Commission's organisation structure for managing external assistance, and strengthening staffing; improving aid management systems and harmonising and streamlining procedures to increase the developmental impact of the EC's programmes; and strengthening coordination and collaboration between the Commission, member states and other donors, within a framework managed by beneficiary countries.
DFID will work with other member states, the Commission. the European Parliament and the Court of Auditors in pursuit of these objectives. We are committed to maximising the effectiveness of the EC's work to promote international development. Our approach will, as
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in the past, be informed by discussions with beneficiary countries, NGOs, the private sector and the academic community.
20. Mr. Campbell-Savours:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will assist programmes of good governance in Nepal; and if she will make a statement. [62763]
Clare Short:
We are assisting programmes of good governance in Nepal and hope to do more in the future. Nepal's new democracy has led to increasing recognition of the need for fundamental reforms to bring about more effective government. The Government's plans for decentralisation may lead to improvements. We shall be looking at ways in which we can support this. We believe that Government and donors need to do more to empower the people to pursue their basic rights. The success of the national community forestry programme demonstrates that the right combination of legislative reform, administrative change and empowerment has great potential for changing the lives of the disadvantaged. This is part of DFlD's strategy which we recently published in the Nepal Country Strategy Paper, a copy of which is available in the Library of the House.
21. Mr. Wilkinson:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on the findings of the experts from her Department on the reconstruction needs of those central American countries affected by Hurricane Mitch which they visited. [62764]
Clare Short:
I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Halton (Mr. Twigg) on 3 December 1998, Official Report, column 238.
22. Mr. McNulty:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what efforts she has made to involve the churches in raising awareness of the links between debt relief and the eradication of poverty. [62765]
Clare Short:
I am in regular touch with churches and representatives of other faiths on this important issue. I addressed the General Synod of the Church of England on 18 November, and called for us to join forces to construct a world-wide alliance of world faiths for the elimination of poverty during the next century. In this speech I made plain the Government's support for faster and deeper debt relief in the right circumstances. But I also make it clear that debt relief was no "magic bullet" to end all poverty, as some campaigners appear to believe. Nor should debt relief be unconditional or unilateral. Not all poor countries need debt relief, and where it is needed it should go only to those countries which are committed to the eradication of poverty. This approach has been fully endorsed by church groups and NGOs.
23. Mr. Pike:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what progress has been made in the last 12 months on international co-ordination of assistance in response to crisis situations. [62766]
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Clare Short:
The United Nations' Secretary General's Track II reform process has led to improvements in inter-agency joint working and co-ordination within the international community: the UK has strongly supported this process.
The UK continues to play an important role in supporting the United Nation's disaster assessment and co-ordination (UNDAC) mechanism, including hosting, organising and contributing to disaster assessment, co-ordination and response training events, and regularly providing and meeting the costs of UK experts on UNDAC missions.
We are also working with the International Red Cross movement to strengthen their capacity to respond to emergency situations within the context of an internationally co-ordinated response system. We are also backing the efforts of non-governmental organisations to develop a code of conduct and minimum standards for humanitarian response.
25. Rev. Martin Smyth:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what progress has been made towards providing a corridor of tranquillity in Sudan. [62769]
Clare Short:
The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Technical Committee on Humanitarian Affairs met on 16 to 18 November 1998. An agreement on the operational standards for rail corridors and cross-line road corridors was signed by the Government of Sudan, the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement and the UN. Further work is being undertaken to put this agreement into effect.
26. Mr. Gordon Prentice:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps she is taking to promote the outlawing of child labour. [62770]
Clare Short:
We are supporting the International LabourOrganisation's work aimed at producing a new International Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour which we hope will be agreed by all members of the ILO at the International Labour Conference in June 1999. This will cover forms of labour which enslave, corrupt, maim and kill children and young people under the age of 18.
We are also working with developing country governments and international organisations to help tackle the problem in practical ways because in many countries despite laws against child labour, children from very poor families--often female headed--work as a result of extreme poverty. Programmes are needed to enable their parents to work for a better income and to provide schooling for children. Examples include a project in Sialkot to provide social support for children leaving the football stitching industry. We are also discussing with ILO's International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour a possible programme on child labour in small-scale mining in Tanzania. Earlier this year we provided a grant of $1 million to IPEC to help take forward their programmes.
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