UK gov’t faces calls for scrutiny over security funding for Egypt

UK MPs and Lords have lent their voices to calls for transparency over the UK Government’s GBP 2 mn funding of security projects in Egypt, according to the Guardian. The funding through the “conflict, stability and security fund (CSSF)” allegedly includes support for policing, the criminal justice system and the treatment of juvenile detainees. The issue is apparently raising concerns of how ministries other than Department for International Development disburse aid — which makes up 36% of the GBP 13 bn budgeted for international aid. Human rights groups have been sounding the alarm bells over how these funds might be used to fund “abuses as serious as torture.”