Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 24 June 2004
81 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee policy paper entitled A Development Co-operation Lens on Terrorism Prevention: Key Entry Points for Action and in particular to address the concerns of Comhlámh and other development NGOs that development assistance is in danger of being militarised towards a war on terror instead of a war on poverty; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18852/04]
View answerThe OECD Development Assistance Committee, DAC, reference document, A Development Cooperation Lens on Terrorism Prevention: Key Entry Points for Action, was endorsed by the DAC high level meeting in 2003 and complements the DAC Guidelines Helping Prevent Violent Conflict in 2001, a reference point for development co-operation actors in this field.
The DAC reference document draws on donor responses to international terrorism. It is intended to guide the international community and Governments in their efforts to address linkages between terrorism and development, and suggests how donor programmes might be designed or adjusted. It begins with a policy statement in which DAC Ministers and heads of agencies underline key lessons, orientations and entry points for action. While the causes of international terrorism are complex, there are connections with development arenas, actors and issues. Consequently the international community, aid organisations, Governments, the European Union, the United Nations system and the OECD have embarked on a series of reflections on how best to support global efforts to combat terrorism.
The annual high level meeting of the OECD Development Assistance Committee, DAC, on 15-16 April 2004 debated the relationship between security and development. While participants accepted that the DAC's ODA criteria should include, for example, activities designed to promote peace and stability through the creation of more accountable security forces or the reinforcement of a human rights' culture in developing countries, there was a general agreement that the traditional definition of ODA should be carefully protected in this debate and that the current criteria should not be broadened, apart from three minor clarifications of existing provisions.
The Government's development co-operation programme has a very strong focus on poverty reduction in the poorest developing countries. This will remain our approach.
