If you needed an illustration of why short-termism in politics is a very bad thing, look no further than the report from the Independent Commission for Aid Impact today into the UK government’s preventing sexual violence in conflict initiative. This is more popularly known as William Hague and Angelina Jolie’s drive to end rape as a weapon of war, and garnered huge attention when the pair launched it back in 2012. Their aims were noble: to bring to justice those using sexual violence in conflict, to prevent such crimes from happening in the first place and to reduce stigma for survivors.
But the report from the ICAI on whether those aims were realised makes miserable reading. The campaign didn’t meet its objectives and may have even harmed some of the survivors it worked with.
One of the main reasons for this is that Hague didn’t remain foreign secretary for much longer after he set up the initiative.
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