Homs has been destroyed by years of conflict. ‘Cooperation within the EU will be essential to tackling the humanitarian emergency in Syria, the migration crisis, and the wider issues of peace, security and development in the Middle East and north Africa,’ write Valerie Amos, Mark Malloch Brown and 22 others. Photograph: Andrew McConnell/UNHCR Letters
The UK is a global leader in international development. Our work fighting poverty, disease, climate change and conflict embodies British values, and is also in our national interest. We are writing not about the domestic political implications of Britain’s membership of the EU, but about the international implications. In our view, EU membership is a practical way to extend our reach and multiply our influence. Every pound of aid the UK spends through EU institutions is matched by £6 from other member states. This larger pool delivers better lives for the poorest people. It also helps tackle problems in areas where the UK has no large presence, for example in the Sahel and parts of west Africa. EU aid complements activities that other aid agencies cannot undertake, like police and security missions in fragile hotspots. Cooperation within the EU will be essential to tackling the humanitarian emergency in Syria, the migration crisis, and the wider issues of peace, security and development in the Middle East and north Africa.
Beyond aid, partnership within the EU helped the UK achieve an ambitious outcome at the climate talks in Paris; and provides a platform for further work on trade, financial flows, corruption and human rights. In all these areas, the EU demonstrates the value of collective action on a global scale. Of course, there are things we want to change in the way the EU works. But British engagement raises standards and improves performance. In September last year, the UK and 192 other members of the UN signed up to the new sustainable development goals. These set the whole world, rich countries and poor, on a new path towards peace, prosperity, justice and sustainability. The values underlying the global goals are shared by the UK and embedded in EU treaties. Withdrawing from the EU would diminish the UK’s role in the world and set back our efforts to end global poverty.
This letter was amended on 26 February 2016. The original had Tanya Barron listed as CEO at Plan International
