We are dealing with the replenishment of the funds of the International Development Association, which is part of the World Bank. It is important to highlight the fact that our joining in this replenishment does nothing to redress the outrageous cut-backs which have occurred in development assistance generally. These cut-backs are of the order of £5 million this year, and will continue, and the Minister has not given an assurance that the situation will be in any way reversed. This Bill does not provide for a voluntary contribution on the part of the State, as suggested in the Minister's speech. As a Part I member of the International Development Association we have a commitment and we are now merely discharging that commitment. It is also important to bear in mind that the funds which will flow from the passing of this Bill, which I support, will not be paid in the current year. It is in that context that we must look at the Bill and appreciate that it does nothing to restore our image in regard to the Third World or to redress the serious situation which has arisen as a result of Government cut-backs.
There are some factors which must be borne in mind in discussing this Bill. The International Development Association is an arm of the World Bank and some criticism might be made in regard to the fact that the human rights situation in countries in receipt of loans from the World Bank and the International Development Association is not apparently a factor in decisions on loans from these bodies. I appreciate that there are difficulties in enforcing a standard of human rights in some underdeveloped countries through the loan mechanism, but I feel it should be one of the criteria borne in mind by the International Development Association and its parent body in making these loans. While it would be simplistic for us to say that loans should not be made available to countries where there is a clear denial of human rights, at the same time the situation should not be ignored entirely. The people in those countries are not to blame for the denial of human rights and that must be a major consideration, provided there is a clear assurance that the loans made available will be ultimately to the benefit of the poor and will not merely result in the rich in those countries becoming richer. I believe there could be a stronger emphasis on the human rights aspects in the sanctioning of these loans and a certain amount of pressure could be exerted to make it clear that those with a good record in human rights will be given greater priority with regard to the availability of funds.
Another factor which must be borne in mind is that loans from the International Development Association are made available to Governments, largely for infrastructural projects, and to a large degree do not touch on the person-to-person contacts which have been so much a part of our own Third World aid programme which concentrated, in the voluntary and bilateral areas, on personnel. The damage which has been caused to the development of that kind of programme by the cut-backs made by this Government must be reversed. I strongly urge the Minister to reverse the present policy in regard to Third World aid generally and even at this late stage to give a commitment that the clear and unequivocal guarantees which were given in that area in the past will be met by the present administration.