Select Committee on International Development Third Report

4  INQUIRIES INTO DEPARTMENTAL ACTIONS

42. Witnesses were questioned on specific actions by DFID throughout the course of the year. In addition to questions during evidence sessions, we have maintained a flow of correspondence with DFID about issues of concern as they have arisen. We see our scrutiny role extending beyond DFID to the multilateral bodies through which DFID spends so much of its budget. In both correspondence and in informal private meetings, we have questioned actions taken by the World Bank, the European Commission, and UN agencies. We seek to divide our work between themed inquiries which address areas of development policy and inquiries into specific situations. Country specific inquiries have included:

Iraq

43. Following on from regular reports and one-off evidence sessions looking at the situation in Iraq, our predecessor Committee began an inquiry into Development Assistance in Iraq towards the end of 2004, which had an emphasis on the role for DFID and its development partners in reconstruction and meeting humanitarian needs. The inquiry included a visit to the region in February 2005. Unfortunately, the timing of the General Election meant that the report was not finalised.[25]

Afghanistan

44. Our predecessors produced two reports on Afghanistan, and, in December 2005, we returned to the subject with an evidence session looking at progress made on reconstruction.[26]

45. We are committed to keeping the situation in both Iraq and Afghanistan under review, by holding periodic oral evidence sessions.

Darfur, Sudan

46. Our predecessors produced a report on the situation in Darfur, Sudan in March 2005, which followed a three-month inquiry and a visit to the region.[27] The inquiry focused on the role played by the UK Government in response to the unfolding crisis. Although the violence and atrocities could be largely blamed on the Government of Sudan (GoS), our predecessors believed that the international community, including the UK Government, had failed to protect the people of Darfur. Early warnings about the emerging crisis were ignored; humanitarian agencies were slow to respond; responsibilities for helping displaced people and managing camps were unclear; and the UN suffered from an avoidable leadership vacuum in Sudan at a critical time. The Report urged the UK Government, as a lead player, to do more to ensure that the emerging international norm of the "responsibility to protect" means something to the people of Darfur who have been abandoned and turned on by their own government.

47. When we were appointed we decided not to let the issue of Darfur rest there. In September 2005 we sent a list of tracking questions to the Department for International Development and launched a further inquiry into Darfur resulting in our report.[28] We found that, although the GoS had given commitments over the preceding months to end the violence, this was not backed up by actions. The GoS had failed to reign in or disarm the Janjaweed-the militia responsible for the ethnic cleansing-yet the UN Security Council seemed reluctant to apply credible sanctions. Whilst welcoming its involvement, we were concerned by the pressure and constraints on the African Union Mission and the uncertainty over its future role.

48. Both reports on Darfur, and the Government Responses, were tagged to a debate on the Darfur Crisis which took place in Westminster Hall in May 2006.[29]

Occupied Palestinian Territories

49. The International Development Committee last reported on development in the Occupied Territories in its report Development Assistance and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, published in 2004.[30] Following on from the inquiry and our predecessors' visit in 2004, we have now returned to the subject. We visited Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories in early November 2006. The political and development context has changed significantly since the Hamas election victory in January 2006 and the key questions we are now focusing on are: the impact of the Hamas election victory on poverty and the humanitarian situation; how development can best be achieved in this context; and how effectively the UK, World Bank and EC have responded to the changed situation.

50. Our Report will be published early in 2007. Based on the evidence we have heard to date and our visit of November 2006, we believe that the situation in the OPTs is severe and deteriorating. As the inquiry is ongoing it is not possible to prejudge our specific recommendations but we are concerned that, in the three years since the Committee's last inquiry, things have got much worse. There has been significant media interest in our inquiry and our evidence sessions.

The Promises of Gleneagles

51. The G8 Summit was held in Gleneagles from 6-8 July 2005. Many promises and commitments were made, including: cancellation of 100% of debt of eligible countries; an increase in aid to Africa of US$25 billion per year by 2010, and to all developing countries of around US$50 billion per year by 2010; and universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment for all those who need it by 2010. The Summit also made commitments on trade, conflict, governance and climate change. Our first evidence session was held in July 2005, shortly after the G8 Summit, when we examined the Secretary of State for International Development. In October 2005, we followed up this session by hearing evidence from members of the Make Poverty History movement.[31]

52. We will continue to scrutinise the Government's commitment to following through its Gleneagles pledges by probing progress on these promises as part of our evidence sessions in other relevant inquiries.

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25   International Development Committee, Seventh Report of Session 2004-05, Development assistance in Iraq: Interim Report, HC 244 Back

26   Reconstructing Afghanistan, Oral and Written Evidence, 13 December 2005, HC 772-i Back

27   International Development Committee, Fifth Report of Session 2004-05, Darfur, Sudan: The responsibility to protect, HC 67-I Back

28   International Development Committee, Second Report of Session 2005-06, Darfur: The killing continues, HC 657 Back

29   HC Deb, 18 May 2006, cols 339-380WH  Back

30   International Development Committee, Second Report of Session 2003-04, Development Assistance and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, HC 230 Back

31   Making poverty history? The promises of Gleneagles, Oral and Written Evidence, 19 July 2005 and 25 October 2005, HC 418 Back

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Prepared 24 January 2007