The ‘secretive’ Government fund that has allegedly bolstered jihadis and tyrants must be shut down, campaigners said yesterday.
The call came as the Foreign Office halted a £12million taxpayer-funded aid project in Syria over fears some of the cash had gone to terrorists.
But campaigners warned that the case was just the ‘tip of the iceberg’.
The £1billion Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF), which gets half its money from the aid budget, has handed cash to military and security projects in countries notorious for human-rights abuses.
The fund – overseen by the National Security Council and chaired by the Prime Minister – has a ‘serious lack of transparency’ making it impossible for MPs or the public to properly scrutinise it, according to the report by charity Global Justice Now.
The call came as the Foreign Office halted a £12million taxpayer-funded aid project in Syria over fears some of the cash had gone to terrorists.
It said projects included £3.5million to Bahrain for teaching police how to ‘command and control’ demonstrators with water cannon and dogs, as well as ‘evidence gathering and tactical advice’.
The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy has accused the UK of ‘managing repression in an authoritarian regime, paid by the taxpayer’.
UK cash has also been given to help senior security officers in Ethiopia study for postgraduate degree programmes.
Since 2016, Ethiopian security forces have killed hundreds of protesters and detained tens of thousands.
Another £400,000 from the fund has gone to bolster armed forces in Sudan, where head of state Omar al-Bashir faces five counts of crimes against humanity from the International Criminal Court.
CSSF said the Sudanese cash was to help ‘improve governance and accountability… human rights and the rule of law’.
Projects are said to have included £3.5million to Bahrain for teaching police how to ‘command and control’ demonstrators with water cannon and dogs, as well as ‘evidence gathering and tactical advice’
UK cash has also been given to help senior security officers in Ethiopia study for postgraduate degree programmes. Since 2016, Ethiopian security forces have killed hundreds of protesters and detained tens of thousands
Aisha Dodwell, of Global Justice Now, said: ‘It is shocking that the British Government is funding security forces across the world, including in some of the most tyrannical regimes.
‘When you add in that some of these funds come from the aid budget, it just gets more scandalous.
‘It is impossible to know which projects have had aid money spent on them because of the extensive secrecy surrounding this fund – with the public and even MPs in the dark about large parts of this programme. The fear must be that this Syria scandal is the tip of the iceberg.
‘Already in its short life, the CSSF has been involved in a number of scandals. We believe it is not fit for purpose and should be closed down.
‘Aid money must be spent on poverty alleviation and the UK should be standing against human rights abuses, not enabling them.’
The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy has accused the UK of ‘managing repression in an authoritarian regime, paid by the taxpayer’. Angry clashes in the country are pictured
‘Kate Osamor, Labour’s international development spokesman, last night wrote to Boris Johnson to demand answers on CSSF spending, asking the Foreign Secretary for ‘concrete assurances’ these aid projects were ‘being managed properly and not contributing to human-rights violations’.
It comes after BBC Panorama reported last night how British taxpayers’ cash that was handed over to set up a civilian police force in Syria had helped extremists.
One Al Qaeda-backed group has selected officer recruits while another extremist cell siphoned off cash in a protection racket, the programme alleged.
A number of employees on the payroll of the Free Syrian Police were either fictitious or dead.
The Panorama investigation also raised concerns about the way the CSSF programme is run by Adam Smith International (ASI), a foreign-aid contractor which has been accused of making excess profits.
Bahrain, pictured, is one of the countries benefiting from UK taxpayer funds
ASI said it refuted Panorama’s ‘false and misleading allegations’ about the Syria project.
But the Foreign Secretary suspended the project pending an investigation, and even Oxfam warned of the lack of ‘transparency and oversight’ for a growing proportion of Britain’s foreign handouts.
Katy Chakrabortty, of Oxfam, said there were ‘legitimate concerns’ about the aid-budget money handed out by departments other than the Department for International Development (DfID), adding: ‘The Government should not increase aid spent by other departments further without ensuring that it meets the high standards set by DfID.’