Statement from CAFOD Director Christine Allen on Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s announcement on defence spending and cuts to Official Development Assistance (ODA).
Christine Allen, Director and CEO of CAFOD (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development), says:
“This decision by the British government to reduce ODA from 0.5% to 0.3% means that, in some of the most vulnerable places on earth, more people will die and many more will lose their livelihoods.
“Coming so soon after the USAID freeze, this is another lifeline being pulled away from those in desperate need, at a time when the world feels increasingly precarious.
“The UK has a choice to make: to support those in need or turn our backs on them. What we decide speaks to the very core of who we want to be as a society.
"If we are seeing the decline of aid to support the world’s most vulnerable communities, then the government must redouble its efforts to reform the global debt system, to enable those most in need to emerge from poverty."
Notes to editors
For more information or interview requests, contact Rosalind Mayfield (CAFOD Media Officer) or Jo Rogers:
rmayfield@cafod.org.uk, +44 (0)7856 799169
jrogers@cafod.org.uk, +44 (0)7969 083371
CAFOD is the official aid agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, and part of Caritas International, working with communities across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America to fight poverty and injustice, including those worst hit by climate change. The agency works with people in need, regardless of race, gender, religion or nationality.