UK gave £63.4m in ‘secretive payments’ to six Middle Eastern states, say MPs
A group of MPs have called for the suspension of “secretive” funds sent by the UK government to a group of six Middle Eastern states, after £64.3m was sent between 2016 and 2021.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Democracy and Human Rights in the Gulf said Bahrain and Saudi Arabia was among those receiving funds – two states “which whitewashed human rights abuses and potential war crimes, placing the government at risk of complicity”.
The funds were also sent to Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman.
A total of £53.4m was dispersed by the Integrated Activity Fund (IAF) between 2016 and 2020 and a further £10m by the newly formed Gulf Strategy Fund (GSF) for 2021/22.
The Foreign Office has not disclosed how the money was used by the six countries involved, prompting concerns it could be used in campaigns of domestic repression.
The APPG called for an immediate suspension to these payments, saying “the government’s inaction is no longer tenable”.
“As parliamentarians, we have seldom encountered so much government resistance as when we began investigating the source of this funding; the secretive Integrated Activity Fund (IAF) and the Gulf Strategy Fund (GSF),” they said.
“Showers of requests for information on the IAF, torrents of credible human rights concerns connected to the funds and repeated calls for their suspension from within Westminster and beyond have been steadily ignored by successive governments since at least 2015.”
Saudia Arabia’s human rights record is particularly dire, with extreme restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly and association.
The assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 by Saudi government agents put the human rights record of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman into the international spotlight.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “As a force for good, the UK works with partners around the world to improve their human rights records, including in the Gulf. All cooperation through the Gulf Strategy Fund is subject to rigorous risk assessments to ensure all work meets our human rights obligations and our values.
“We do not shy away from raising legitimate human rights concerns, and encourage other states to respect international law.”