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The Conflict, Stability and Security Fund: Diverting Aid and Undermining Human Rights

The Conflict, Stability and Security Fund: Diverting Aid and Undermining Human Rights

Report for Global Justice Now (December 2017)

The UK government’s Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) raises all kinds of questions about the future of UK aid, the nature of the UK’s relations with states abusing human rights and the government’s openness with the public. Established in 2015, the CSSF is a £1 billion annual pot of money operating in dozens of countries which supposedly promotes the UK’s national security interests. Yet there are such fundamental problems with the CSSF that a complete overhaul is needed: It is increasingly using aid money to fund military and counter-terrorism projects which do not appear focused on what aid should be about: eradicating poverty and promoting inclusive development; It is funding ‘security’ forces in several states involved in appalling human rights abuses, thus the UK risks complicity in these violations; It is not transparent. Despite some improvements recently made to the Fund, programme details are scant and some appear to be misleading.

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Categories: Aid, Foreign Policy, UK
Eritreans Exploited: UK Corporate Complicity in Human Rights Abuses

Eritreans Exploited: UK Corporate Complicity in Human Rights Abuses

Report for War on Want (January 2017, published online October 2017)

Eritrea’s totalitarian state is extreme and includes a ratified Constitution that hasn’t been implemented; the absence of national elections since independence from Ethiopia in 1991; its Parliament does not meet; the President, Isaisa Afwerki rules without institutional restraint; the government owns all media; and non-governmental organisations are not permitted. Much of Eritrea’s foreign exchange income comes from foreign gold and copper mining company projects in which the Eritrean government holds a 40% stake. The state control of these revenues is enhanced by the complete lack of mining revenue transparency in the country, a fact that has been persistently documented in various UN reports. There are several ways in which Britain is connected to Eritrean mining, thereby being complicit in the practices of this repressive regime. This includes not just the mining companies involved in exploration in the country, but the financial institutions that have invested in UK and other mining companies operating in Eritrea.

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Categories: Companies, Foreign Policy, Mining, UK
The New Colonialism: Britain’s Scramble for Africa’s Energy and Mineral Resources

The New Colonialism: Britain’s Scramble for Africa’s Energy and Mineral Resources

Report for War on Want (July 2016)

This report reveals the degree to which British companies now control Africa’s key mineral resources. It reviews the operations of all the companies listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) that have mining interests in Africa, focusing on key minerals and metals such as gold, platinum, diamonds, copper, oil, gas and coal. It finds that 101 companies have mining operations in 37 sub-Saharan African countries. These companies, which are mainly British, now control an identified $1.05 trillion worth of resources in Africa in just five commodities — oil, gold, diamonds, coal and platinum. Of the 101 LSE-listed companies, one quarter are incorporated in tax havens. A determination to plunder the natural resources of Africa is taking place, with the active support of the British government; this is contributing significantly to a net drain of resources from Africa, already the world’s poorest continent.

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Categories: Companies, Foreign Policy, Mining, Tax, UK
Afghanistan in Limbo: New aid priorities and the funding crisis putting future progress at risk

Afghanistan in Limbo: New aid priorities and the funding crisis putting future progress at risk

Report for Islamic Relief (March 2014)

Curtis Research wrote the first draft and contributed much of the research to this report. A new and uncertain chapter has begun in Afghanistan’s bloody and poverty-stricken recent history as foreign troops prepare to withdraw by the end of 2014. Afghanistan remains one of the poorest countries in the world, with extremely low development indicators. This report argues that the international community must not abandon Afghans to their fate but prepare for future challanges. Poverty is killing more people in Afghanistan than direct fatalities from the ongoing conflict. The internaitonal community should support sustained aid funding, improve the quality of aid, focus on basic services, ensure community and NGO involvement, build resilience and strengthen governance.

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Categories: Foreign Policy, UK
Web of Power: The UK Government and the Energy-Finance Complex Fuelling Climate Change

Web of Power: The UK Government and the Energy-Finance Complex Fuelling Climate Change

Report for World Development Movement (March 2013)

This report, written by WDM to which Curtis Research contributed research, shows the links between current and former British ministers and officials and the finance and energy companies driving climate change. The report highlights the extent to which British companies currently promoting dirty energy projects in developing countries are managed or advised by former British officials and that senior executives of many of these same companies are currently serving as members of government-linked advisory boards which shape the UK’s financial and trade policies. These companies are likely to be exerting influence over government policy on energy projects and on its wider financial and trade policies, which thus may have been captured by this nexus of personal interests.

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Categories: Climate, Companies, Foreign Policy, Mining, UK
The Great Game: The Reality of Britain’s War in Afghanistan

The Great Game: The Reality of Britain’s War in Afghanistan

Report for War on Want (February 2011)

Afghanistan is the UK government’s “most important” foreign policy and national security issue, according to Prime Minister David Cameron. The current war in Afghanistan has now entered its 10th year, longer than both the First World War and Second World War combined. This report outlines the impact of the war on the Afghan people, whose country has been devastated by decades of warfare and foreign interference, and calls for the withdrawal of NATO troops.

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Categories: Foreign Policy, UK
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: A Decade of New Labour’s Arms Exports

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: A Decade of New Labour’s Arms Exports

Report for Saferworld (May 2007)

This report reviews the British government’s arms exports policies since 1997, showing how it continues to arm persistent human rights abusers and states enduring conflicts, how the arms trade remains mired in secrecy, and the foreign policy benefits of arms exports.

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Categories: Foreign Policy, Other, UK