A British Government move to freeze funding of NGO projects in provincial
Cambodia has been abandoned, apparently for the same reason as it was first
made-public relations.
The change of heart came after a concerted public campaign by NGOs against
the earlier decision, and after critical questions in the British Parliament
about it.
In an answer to one Parliamentary question, the Under-Secretary
of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Tony Baldry, told MPs that the
decision had been made after long discussions and consultations with the NGOs
involved.
NGO head offices in Britain responded angrily to the statement,
saying it was untrue as they had been given virtually no warning.
The funding freeze-which one Phnom Penh diplomat had said was designed to
avoid "awkward" questions in Parliament about the safety of Britons in
Cambodia-was condemned by NGO workers in Cambodia and Britain.
On Feb 14, British Ambassador Paul Reddicliffe called a meeting of NGO chiefs
in Phnom Penh to tell them: "I think I have rather better news."
He said the Feb 1 decision to suspend British Overseas Development Agency
(ODA) funding to expatriate NGO workers in the provinces-and to advise them to
return to Phnom Penh for security reasons-had been rescinded.
The earlier decision had been justified on the grounds that it was consistent
with Foreign Office advice to tourists not to travel to Cambodia and, if they
did, not venture outside of Phnom Penh.
Reddicliffe told the post that the policy had been dropped after NGOs "were
able to convince the Foreign Office that they were responsible people" who
should not be subjected to the same blanket advice given to tourists.
While the British Embassy did not accept that provincial Cambodia was
entirely safe, "we have less worries about many areas than a few others"
He said he would raise his concerns with NGOs working in areas considered
particularly unsafe-primarily in northwestern provinces-and would still advise
some to withdraw their foreign staff. But no NGO would have their ODA funding
cut for ignoring the embassy's advice.
"I think that the situation has been resoled," Reddicliffe said. "We've
always been trying to find the best compromise and the present compromise seems
to me be a welcome development."
Senior NGO staff welcomed the new British position, saying they would stick
to their policy of temporarily evacuating staff from provincial areas at times
when their safety was considered in doubt.
The Phnom Penh Post's last issue mistakenly referred to Volunteer Service
Abroad (VSA), instead of Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), as being affected by
the funding freeze.
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