London streicht Hilfsgelder für Syrien und Jemen

Zehn Jahre nach Ausbruch des arabischen Frühlings streicht die britische Regierung die Hilfsgelder unter anderem für Syrien und den Jemen, zwei der größten humanitären Katastrophen dieser Zeit zusammen. Derweil entscheidet Dänemark Damaskus sei sicher für Abschiebungen und strebt eine Null-Asylaufnahmepolitik auf.

The British government has plans to slash hundreds of millions of pounds in foreign aid to countries in conflict zones around the world, openDemocracy can reveal today.

In recent weeks, senior British civil servants have discussed cutting aid to Syria by two-thirds, from £137m pledged last year to just over £45m this year, despite this week’s pledge by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to provide humanitarian assistance to the war-torn Middle Eastern state.

The figures seen by openDemocracy reveal for the first time the scale of British aid cuts.

UK aid to Libya could fall by 63% in 2021-22. Assistance to Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo could fall by roughly 60%. In South Sudan, where millions face catastrophic famine, the UK's aid spend is set to drop from £110m to just £45m.

These figures – which were discussed by senior officials at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) last month according to email correspondence seen by openDemocracy – included cutting British aid to Nigeria for the next financial year by 58%, and reducing assistance to the Western Balkans by 50%.

British spending in the Sahel region of Africa could also drop by more than 90%, from £340m to £23m. Aid to Lebanon could fall by 88%, although some of this shortfall will be covered by a rise in assistance from other government budgets.