LONDON: The UK government’s decision to cut foreign aid spending will leave 55,000 women and girls without access to shelters to escape domestic abuse in Syria, according to the International Rescue Committee (IRC).
The group said its funding from the UK for its programs in the war-torn country could be reduced by as much as 75 percent, effectively ending its schemes to help Syrians regain economic self-sufficiency following a decade of conflict. Those set to lose most from this, it added, will be women.
Su’ad Jarbawi, the IRC’s regional vice president for the Middle East and North Africa, told The Independent: “The humanitarian situation in the country is rapidly deteriorating as COVID cases rise and people face a serious hunger crisis. Syrians need certainty and support. These cuts will lead only to suffering and misery.”
The UK set out plans earlier this year to reduce its foreign aid budget from 0.7 percent of it’s gross domestic product to 0.5 percent — around £4 billion ($5.6 billion) — in light of the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy. The move has drawn sharp criticism at home and from the international community.
The UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said the cuts are only a “temporary measure.”
But at least 30 Conservative MPs, as well as former Conservative Prime Minister Sir John Major, have called on the Conservative government not to push ahead with the decision. The countries set to lose most from the UK aid cuts include Syria, Libya, Yemen and Lebanon.
BACKGROUND
The cuts will only socially and economically disempower women further and add more pressure on Syrian women to battle for rights and equality, said Nour Mashhade, a Syrian journalist based in the Turkish city of Gaziantep.
The IRC also warned that cuts to its funding could end up affecting its health programs in Syria, with as many as 300,000 people relying on it to provide primary healthcare and mental health support.
Reem Khassab, a teacher in Idlib province, told The Independent: “The economic struggle for Syrian women has drastically worsened in the past months due to currency inflation, prices surge and other factors.” She added: “Gender-based violence is still a major problem that needs more attention and support to alleviate women’s struggles socially and economically.”
Nour Mashhade, a Syrian journalist based in the Turkish city of Gaziantep, said: “The cuts will only socially and economically disempower women further and add more pressure on Syrian women to battle for rights and equality.”
Chemical weapons
The head of the international chemical weapons watchdog told the UN Security Council that its experts have investigated 77 allegations against Syria, and concluded that in 17 cases chemical weapons were likely or definitely used.
Fernando Arias called it “a disturbing reality” that eight years after Syria joined the Chemical Weapons Convention, which bans the production or use of such weapons, many questions remain about its initial declaration of its weapons, stockpiles and precursors and its ongoing program.
He said that the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons will be taking up a new issue at its next consultations with Syria — “the presence of a new chemical weapons agent found in samples collected in large storage containers in September 2020.”
Arias said he sent a letter informing the Syrian government that he intended to send an OPCW team to look into this issue from May 18 to June 1, and requested visas but never got a response.
