Panellists' Opinions on Security and Development

Edmund Cairns

Senior Policy Adviser (Research), Oxfam GB

We shouldn't exaggerate how much poverty lies behind any terrorist attack. It's often a complex combination of causes: intense grievances, extreme ideologies and the choice of the attackers themselves. Poverty is often part of that mix, but seldom more. There's a stronger case to be made that what often fuels terrorism is the conduct of the 'war on terror' itself.

We should keep our eye on the prize of getting the UK to contribute 0.7% of our national wealth in international aid as soon as possible - rather than worry about the ratio between development and defence spending. The UK needs substantial defence spending if it is once again to pull its weight in contributing to UN peacekeeping. The development budget should certainly NOT be used for that purpose.

Moazzam Malik

Director of DFID’s Conflict, Humanitarian and Security Department (CHASE)

Security and development are linked. Insecurity, lawlessness, crime and violent conflict are among the biggest obstacles to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Though here is no causal link between poverty and terrorism, insecurity, a lack of basic services, social, economic and political exclusion can help to create an environment in which violent extremists seek to justify terrorism. The Department for International Development (DFID) promotes security of the poor locally, nationally and internationally as part of our core objective to reduce poverty in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).