Security & Development: Does war on poverty = war on terror?

The third in CUTS London’s “Soho to Soweto” series of debates on development attracted a bumper crowd of over 120 people to quiz an expert panel from government, academia, the NGO sector and the media on the links between poverty, terrorism and conflict and debate how the international community should be responding to these challenges.

To start the discussions the chair Richard Cockett, Africa editor of the Economist, asked the panellists to share their views on what role promoting development can play in tackling global terrorism and conflict.

Moazaam Malik, Director of DFID’s Conflict, Humanitarian and Security (CHASE) Department responded that DFID’s exploration of the links between poverty and terrorism have failed to find that the poor were any more likely to be involved in terrorism than other groups.

Professor Frances Stewart, Director of the Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity (CRISE) at Oxford University, responded by quoting from her own research, which suggests that many conflicts emerge when long standing tensions resulting from economic inequalities between (ethnic and other) groups are inflamed by episodes of political marginalisation of those same groups. She illustrated this point by referring to the ongoing violence in Kenya.

In response to a question from the audience about whether the UK government has got the right balance between defence and development spending, Keith Simpson MP, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, was quick to hail the achievements of the UK armed forces, who have been the first on the ground in many conflict situations (e.g. Sierra Leone) and whose operations pave the way for humanitarian operations to begin.

Ed Cairns, Oxfam Senior Policy Adviser, responded that the real issue in relation to development spending is whether the UK government is committed to reaching its 0.7% target and it is on this that it most urgently needs to be held accountable. He also cautioned against the temptation to involve the military in humanitarian affairs.

A number of questions focused on the effectiveness of aid in promoting peaceful societies and contributing to reconstruction. Frances Stewart noted how aid too frequently ignores inequalities, which could be reduced by the better targeting of aid. Moazaam Malik mentioned the contribution aid has made to reconstruction in Rwanda following the terrible conflict there, a link that was then challenged by an audience member who had recently made a trip to Rwanda and saw little change in the poorest areas.

The audience also turned the spotlight on the effectiveness of DFID in responding to conflict situations. Keith Simpson expressed his view that DFID has not done well in communicating with other relevant ministries (e.g. FCO and Defense) in responding to conflict situations and bewailed the cuts in the FCOs budget, which are limiting its role in advising the government on issues such as conflict. In response Moazaam Malik said that during humanitarian crises DFID takes decisions through consultation with a task force comprising officials from all relevant ministries.

Following an hour and half of stimulating and sometimes heated debate, Gideon Rabinowitz, Centre Manager of CUTS London, invited all in attendance to continue their discussions over a reception and thanked the panelists for their contributions.