Aid cuts set 'dangerous precedent' for safety of vulnerable women, says UN expert

The West’s cuts to international aid have made the lives of the world's most vulnerable women extremely difficult, a leading UN representative has said.

Reem Alsalem, the UN’s special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, warned that while the US and UK had for decades been at the forefront of supporting the women, peace and security agenda, “for them now to step away sets a very dangerous precedent”.

“It basically gives the message to other countries that, yes, you can step away from this and there are no consequences because after all these are wealthy countries,” Ms Alsalem told the UK Parliament’s international development committee.

Despite the recent significant aid budget cuts, if Britain and the US “cannot continue to prioritise” the women, peace and security issue “then what message are we giving to other countries?” she asked.

Sarah Champion, MP, the committee’s chairwoman, also suggested there would be a 25 per cent decrease in staffing for women, peace and security.

Prof Toni Haastrup, chairwoman of global political at the University of Manchester, said: “Money pays for expertise so losing 25 per cent of the expertise that is within the foreign office I would consider to be a very, very bad idea."

Abandonment unthinkable

David Miliband, the chief executive of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), used a visit to London this week to give assurances organisations like his were “not going to abandon” the world’s most impoverished despite the drastic cuts.

David Miliband speaks at an international aid event. Thomas Harding / The National

The former UK foreign secretary has seen his organisation’s budget cut by $400 million to $1.1 billion but has promised that, despite the massive reduction, humanitarian relief charities would not perish.

“Let's not fall for the claim that when the money goes down we go out of business, because the needs don't go away,” he told the launch of Promising Development: The Future of Aid in an Uncertain World, a collection of essays.

Like many other charities, the IRC has seen a drastic reduction in US financing since President Donald Trump took office for the second time, which as America used to provide more than 30 per cent of international aid has had a dramatic impact.

But Mr Miliband, whose humanitarian charity reached 36 million people in more than 40 countries last year, said from “day one” of the cuts the IRC vowed that “if you're a child in a malnutrition centre that we're running in Nigeria or any