This week the Government published its Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, billed as the biggest review of the UK’s foreign policy since the end of the Cold War. It was a vital opportunity for the Government to demonstrate how it will deliver its commitment that Global Britain will act as a ‘force for good’ in the world.
We had hoped to see children’s rights treated as a national priority. That means global leadership on international development, strengthening the protection of children in conflict, and putting children at the heart of the recovery from Covid-19.
Of course, the Review must be considered in the context of the decision to slash aid to the world’s most vulnerable children. The Government missed the opportunity to respond to the chorus of voices opposing this damaging and short-sighted decision – including our 5 living former Prime Ministers, the faith community, more than 100 UK charities, the R&D sector and a growing number of its own backbenchers. Instead, it doubled down on its existing line that the UK will return to its 0.7% aid commitment “when the fiscal situation allows”, a statement so open to interpretation as to be meaningless.
And in a deeply disappointing move, the Government chose to exclude international development from the Review altogether – relegating it to a sub-strategy to be published at an unspecified point in the future.
This demonstrates a failure to appreciate the strategic case for aid as well as the moral one. Side-lining development will undermine a whole range of the aims and ambitions the Government has set out in the Review.
You cannot build global health security if you are vaccinating fewer children. Tackling poverty is a key part of conflict prevention, and lasting peace is harder to achieve without providing the humanitarian support needed to prevent a lost generation of young people. Commitments on girls’ education cannot be delivered without proper funding and if children are trying to learn on empty stomachs. Our 0.7% commitment and development expertise are at the heart of the UK’s status as a “soft power superpower”, which is particularly important at a time when the UK and our allies are increasingly competing with China for global influence.
Yet the Integrated Review did contain some promising news, with the Government recognising the urgent need to address the rise in conflicts globally. 1 in every 6 children around the world is affected by armed conflict, and recent years have seen record numbers of grave violations of children’s rights in conflict and other fragile settings.
We only need to look at the news this week. Children in Myanmar are being killed or detained for exercising their right to peaceful protest. In Mozambique, children as young 11 are being targeted for beheadings. This week the conflict in Syria, which continues to shatter childhoods, reached its 10th year.
The Review provides important opportunities for Global Britain to be a world leader in protecting and supporting children affected by conflict. It commits to an updated approach to conflict that places greater emphasis on atrocity prevention and tackling underlying causes. It also announced the establishment of a new conflict hub within the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), which will draw on expertise from across government to develop and lead a strategic conflict agenda.
If the Government gets this right, it can help save lives and protect children’s futures.
To do this, the conflict hub will need to prioritise the Children and Armed Conflict agenda in the same way as issues like Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict and Freedom of Religious Belief, where the UK has shown real global leadership. Its approach must address the whole cycle of conflict, so that alongside prevention and resolution, it focuses on strengthening the protection of children during conflict, and accountability for those who have violated children’s rights - as it committed to in its updated Protection of Civilians approach last year.
Political leadership will be a vital ingredient for success so there needs to be strong ministerial oversight and ownership of the new centre. And of course, it will need to be properly funded and meaningfully implemented. Finally, it is important that the new conflict hub engages with children and young people affected by conflict, as well as civil society organisations and NGOs working on the ground in conflict zones.
Save the Children works closely with officials across the FCDO and the Ministry of Defence who share our commitment to protecting and promoting children’s rights. We look forward to working with them, and with Ministers, to shape the UK’s updated conflict agenda, and its international aid strategy, so that children are at the heart.
