The Government has no clear plan to tackle the record-high numbers of refugees and displaced people fleeing their homes, a cross-party committee of MPs has found.
In a new report, MPs on the International Development Committee found that the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has not sufficiently considered the scale of this challenge and that the UK lacks an overarching strategy to respond effectively to the global displacement crisis.
Global displacement has reached “crisis levels”, the Committee finds, having grown by 187% in the last 13 years, at an enormous economic cost: in 2020, when only 55 million people were internally displaced, the Norwegian Refugee Council estimated the global cost of internal displacement at $20.5 billion. Today, more than 80 million people are internally displaced.
Cuts to funding for gender specific programming will have a “devastating” impact on women and girls, starving them of vital support and services, the Committee says. Making cuts to development funding without understanding the impacts on women and girls is “astonishing”. The Committee calls for the Government to publish promised impact assessments as soon as possible and to consider ringfencing funding for women and girls.
MPs argue that while the UK cannot be expected to tackle this challenge alone, significant cuts to UK funding for international development indicate that the UK is “stepping back from the world stage at a time when engagement and collaboration are most needed”.
Lessons not being learnt
The FCDO has failed to learn the lessons of previous cuts to stabilisation, peacebuilding and deconfliction programming, which likely contributed to the escalation of the conflict in Sudan – the largest humanitarian crisis ever recorded – going unchallenged, the Committee said.
It adds that it is concerned that cuts to the Integrated Security Fund will “lead to escalating conflict, with unpredictable ramifications for the UK both at home and abroad.”
Displacement raises the risk of poverty, exploitation and violence and leads to vulnerable people losing access to key services such as education and healthcare. Those displaced also carry with them an immense psychological toll, including trauma, grief and uncertainty about the future.
“Being forced to flee your home is a fate that few of us can imagine; yet levels of global displacement are higher than they have been for decades. This is a crisis of vast proportions. Yet our report makes clear that the UK has no overall plan to tackle the problem,” said Sarah Champion MP, Chair of the International Development Committee.
“Just when the UK’s voice and expertise is most needed, we are stepping back and cutting funding for programmes that helped to stabilise communities and revive peace.”
Cutting funding for women and girls programmes abandons people who already bear the worst burdens of displacement.
That this has happened without the Government even understanding what impact it will have is a staggering own goal, she said.
“It pains me that we are spending taxpayers’ money dealing with the outcomes of people fleeing their homes, rather than tackling the causes head-on: conflict, climate, and population growth.
“This issue will get worse before it gets better. The Government urgently needs to get a grip on the factors causing displacement, and set out a plan to help address them, before this crisis spins entirely out of control.”
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