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Montserrat
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will provide a breakdown of her Department's expenditure since 1998–99 in Montserrat. [67503]
Clare Short: The figures requested are available in "Statistics on International Development", (SID), Table 7.2 which shows a breakdown of bilateral aid by country in the Americas for the last five financial years. A copy of this publication is available in the Library of the House.
St. Helena
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will provide a breakdown of her Department's expenditure since 1998–99 in St. Helena. [67501]
Clare Short: The figures requested are available in "Statistics on International Development", (SID), Table 7.1 which shows a breakdown of bilateral aid for the last five financial years. A copy of this publication is available in the Library of the House.
Civil Society Challenge Fund
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will provide a breakdown of her Department's expenditure since 2000–01 on the Civil Society Challenge Fund. [67527]
Clare Short: The figures requested are available in "Statistics on International Development", (SID),
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Table 13 which shows a breakdown of bilateral grants and other aid in kind, including the Civil Society Challenge Fund, for the last five financial years. A copy of this publication is available in the Library of the House.
Oceana Regional
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will provide a breakdown of her Department's expenditure since 1998–99 in Oceana Regional. [67502]
Clare Short: The figures requested are available in Statistics on International Development, (SID), Table 7.5 which shows a breakdown of bilateral aid to the Pacific region for the last five financial years. A copy of this publication is available in the Library of the House.
Overseas Aid
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will provide a breakdown of her Department's expenditure since 1998–99 in (a) Anguilla, (b) Burma, (c) Jordan and (d) Vietnam. [67504]
Clare Short: The figures requested are available in Statistics on International Development, (SID), Tables 7.1 to 7.4 which show a breakdown of bilateral aid by country for the last five financial years. A copy of this publication is available in the Library of the House.
Urban Development Projects
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will provide a breakdown of her Department's expenditure since 1998–99 on water and sanitation in infrastructure and urban development projects. [67521]
Clare Short: Annual figures are given in the table.
| £ million(15) | Percentage(16) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 617 | 9 |
| 1998–99 | 1,168 | 11 |
| 1999–2000 | 940 | 7 |
| 2000–01 | 1,388 | 7 |
| 2001–02(17) | 1,306 | 1 |
(15) Bilateral commitments total. For projects with a commitment figure greater than £100,000.
(16) Proportion on water supply and sanitation.
(17) Provisional figures.
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will provide a breakdown of her Department's expenditure since 1998–99 on engineering in infrastructure and urban development projects. [67524]
Clare Short: My Department's expenditure on engineering in Infrastructure and Urban Development since 1998–99 has been as set out.
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Joint Funding Scheme
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will provide a breakdown of her Department's expenditure since 2000–01 on the civil society bilateral programme entitled the Joint Funding Scheme. [67526]
Clare Short: The figures requested are available in "Statistics on International Development", (SID), Table 13 which shows a breakdown of bilateral grants and other aid in kind including the Joint Funding Scheme for the last five financial years. A copy of this publication is available in the Library of the House.
Developing Countries
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment she has made of the value of property rights for poor people in the economic development of developing countries; what her Department is doing to promote property rights of poor people in the developing world; which projects her Department supports that promote the establishment of property rights for poor people in developing countries; and what the value of each project was in each of the last five years. [66808]
Clare Short: Property rights are an important element in poor people's range of livelihood assets and can assist directly in processes that eliminate poverty. My Department has made a series of assessments of property rights, mainly concerning land ownership and housing, in both rural and urban contexts.
Research has been undertaken, for example, to establish the range of tenure arrangements available to poor people in developing countries that allow people degrees of security and freedom in where they live, from which they can build their livelihoods for the future. The results are published by Intermediate Technology Development Group Publishing under the title "Land, Rights and Innovation". This tenure framework is currently being used to observe how poor people manage to establish their property rights in 15 developing countries. The work is being shared with the UN and World bank.
My Department is promoting better awareness of the role of property rights in poverty reduction through core funding support to UN-Habitat who are running their Global Campaign for Secure Tenure in 11 developing countries, and core funding support to the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions which is based in Geneva. Support is also provided to the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights.
Secure land and property rights for the poor are essential if they are to contribute to and benefit from economic development, and to unlock access to essential services and to finance for small-scale investment
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opportunities of all kinds. Many poor people have no or insecure property rights and can fall victim to forced evictions by landlords governments and commercial land development in both town and country.
Secure rights can be provided through various forms of tenure, and DFID is working actively throughout the world, especially in Africa and with global institutions to help developing countries establish effective policies and institutions to deliver secure property rights to the poor and prevent evictions. In those cases where we have a direct role to play, DFID projects have helped governments to deliver secure rights and land titles to the poor; I would highlight:
- South Africa were we spent £5.9 million up to 2000—a further phase is now being prepared in addition to a project earmarked at £5 million to help the SADC countries strengthen property rights for the poor throughout the Southern African Region
Guyana where a £4.39 million project is due to end in 2003
Support to Kenya Land Reform £0.47 million
Uganda Land Laws (Tenure) £1.35 million
Asian Coalition for Housing Rights £2.19 million
Property Rights in Croatia £0.59 million
10 projects in the former Soviet Union totalling £3.53 million, and
£295,000 through NGO partners in Bangladesh, directly assisting the poor access land and secure their rights.
Kenya
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions she has had with (a) the Government of Kenya and (b) the British high commission in Nairobi regarding political and ethnic violence and human rights abuses in Kenya; and what projects her Government support to promote justice for victims of ethnic and political violence in Kenya. [66812]
Clare Short: British officials and I raise these issues regularly in our frequent contacts with the Kenyan Government. Our programme in Kenya includes a project co-funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence to prevent and settle internal conflict. We also support organisations offering legal aid to disadvantaged people including those who may be affected by ethnic and political violence; and we are working with the Kenyan Government to develop a pilot legal aid scheme.
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Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what her Department is doing to promote democratic reform in Kenya. [66810]
Clare Short: DFID's Political Empowerment Programme together with other donors' programmes, aim to strengthen Kenya's political system by enabling poor and marginalised groups to organise and influence government and strengthening democratic institutions including Parliament. In addition DFID and high commission officials have frequent contacts with the Kenyan Government and Opposition on democratic issues.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment her Department has made of the level of (a) political violence and (b) human rights abuses in Kenya; and how her Department responds to such violence and human rights abuses. [66811]
Clare Short: My officials in Nairobi, working in close consultation with our British High Commission, carefully monitor all reports of political violence and human rights abuses in Kenya and raise any concerns with the relevant authorities.
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