Britain to cut aid to anti-gay countries
By Our Online Team
31st Oct 2011:
Tough talking British PM Cameron
The British Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. David Cameron MP has threatened to withhold UK aid from countries that do not reform legislation banning homosexuality. Mr. Cameron said he raised the issue with some of the states involved at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting [CHOGM] in Perth – Australia.
Human rights reform in the Commonwealth was one issue that leaders failed to reach agreement on at the summit. Mr Cameron says those receiving UK aid should “adhere to proper human rights”. Ending the bans on homosexuality was one of the recommendations of an internal report into the future relevance of the Commonwealth.
Mr Cameron also told BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show that “…British aid should have more strings attached”. But he conceded that countries could not change immediately, and cautioned that there would be a “journey”.
“…This is an issue where we are pushing for movement. We are prepared to put some money behind what we believe. But I’m afraid that you can’t expect countries to change overnight. Britain is one of the premier aid givers in the world. We want to see countries that receive our aid adhering to proper human rights”, the British PM said.
A spokesman for the UK’s Department for International Development however said that only a type of bi-lateral aid known as general budget support would be withheld. Budget support, which accounts for about 5% of the UK’s annual aid budget of £7.46bn, is conditional direct assistance to governments.
To qualify, recipients must adhere to rules on poverty reduction, respect of human rights, good governance and domestic accountability. And Mr Cameron added: “…We are saying that is one of the things that determines our aid policy, and there have been particularly bad examples where we have taken action.”
Mr Cameron said he had spoken with “a number of African countries” and that more pressure had been applied by Foreign Secretary William Hague, who deputised for him during parts of the summit.
Uganda is among the 41 nations within the 54-member Commonwealth group which still has laws banning homosexuality. Many of these laws are however, a legacy of British Empire laws. Ruling NRM party MP David Bahati sponsored a new anti-gay private members bill that immediately attracted criticism from the West, including the US.
Earlier this year, Ugandan gay rights campaigner David Kato was beaten to death in what was suspected to be homophobic attack. END. Please login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.
