Research On Legal System Of Australian Foreign Aid

Australia,as an influential developed country in the Asia-Pacific region,has been providing foreign aid to the region with a long history.At the same time,it is also a major donor country in the Pacific region.In its aid history of more than 60 years,Australian foreign aid has undergone significant changes.Foreign aid theories and strategies have different directions and priorities during the administration of different governments.In the process,Australian foreign aid legal system has gradually been established.However,compared with other countries specializing in foreign aid legislation,Australia has not formulated a basic law on foreign aid.Its foreign aid principles,methods and strategies are mainly stipulated in foreign aid policy documents.Australia 's latest foreign aid policy “Australian aid: promoting prosperity,reducing poverty,enhancing stability ” and the performance framework “Making performance count: enhancing the accountability and effectiveness of Australian Aid "was introduced in 2014 to guide foreign aid activities,while other relevant foreign aid laws are regulated foreign aid activities and guarantees the orderly development of foreign aid,including domestic public governance,government finance,and information disclosure.In addition,as a member OECD / DAC,international legal norms for foreign aid also have a significant impact on Australia foreign aid.Therefore,although foreign aid starts from the diplomatic and political standpoint of a country,it involves the regulation of international development assistance in the field of international law.This paper attempts to analyze the content and deficiencies of Australian foreign aid legal system,and then conclude the foreign aid legal systems and international development assistance rules of other countries from the perspective of comparative law.Finally,it also makes effort to make suggestions to improve Chinese foreign aid legal system.In order to achieve this goal,this paper uses the literature research method,comparative research method and case analysis to summarize the content and problems of Australian foreign aid legal system,the characteristics and implementation of international development assistance rules,its reference to China and the enlightenment to the construction path of Chinese foreign aid legal system.In addition to the introduction and conclusion,this paper mainly consists of the following four chapters.The first chapter elaborates the concept,types and characteristics of the foreign aid legal system,and the framework of Australian foreign aid.Regarding the meaning of foreign aid,there is currently no consensus among countries.OECD has proposed the definition of official development assistance.Some countries,such as the United States,have adopted the definition of foreign aid in their legislation,while some countries,such as the United Kingdom and the South Korea,have adopted the definition of development cooperation.In the process of foreign aid development,foreign aid has evolved from a decentralized single stage to the current regulated stage,the international legal norms for foreign aid also become increasingly sophisticated.Specific to the legal system of Australian foreign aid,this paper holds that the legal system of Australian foreign aid mainly regulates official development assistance,and also involves the development assistance activities for other private and civil organizations.Although Australia has not formulated specific foreign aid legislation,foreign aid policies and strategic documents play an important guiding role as well as have strong flexibility.The related foreign aid laws and policy documents jointly regulate foreign aid behavior in Australia.At the same time,Australia actively links foreign aid practices with international legal norms and responds to relevant aid resolutions,statements and declarations that are proposed by international organizations and conferences.The second chapter elaborates the characteristics of Australian foreign aid legal system,analyzing its strengths and weaknesses in combination with its influencing factors and aid practices,and also raises the suggested views on its future development trends in combination with existing international legal norms for foreign aid.Specifically,when researching Australian foreign aid legal system and comparing with the foreign aid legal systems of the United Kingdom and the United States,it is not as typical of these two major countries.But Australian system still has its particularities.On the one hand,Australian foreign aid legal system has a strong policy color.Without special foreign aid legislation,foreign aid policies and strategic documents have become the important basis for foreign aid.On the other hand,as a major donor country in the Pacific region and nearby island nations,Australian foreign aid regulations affect aid programs and aid effectiveness.The foreign aid legal system directly reflects the level of foreign aid,which also reflects the importance of researching of Australia foreign aid legal system.In the existing international legal norms of foreign aid,although there is no internationally binding foreign aid convention,all countries around the world are committed to reaching a consensus on foreign aid,thereby promoting global peace and the development of all mankind.Both the "Millennium Development Goals" and "Sustainable Development Goals" proposed by the UN General Assembly reflect the importance the international community attaches to foreign aid.At the same time,Australia is also actively promoting the development of international legal norms for foreign aid and responding to international development assistance initiatives.Although in recent years,Australian foreign aid budget has shown a downward trend and its aid intensity has declined,the international legal norms for foreign aid become more progressive,and the legal system of Australian foreign aid will pay more attention to the convergence of international legal norms for foreign aid.The third chapter expounds the Australian fulfillment of its obligations to international organizations,summarizes the obligations of international organizations in the field of international assistance to countries,and then extends to current research in the field of international development assistance,analyzes its shortcomings,and proposes to improve the international development assistance mechanism.The assistance obligations of the United Nations are mainly reflected in the international development goals,from the Millennium Development Goals proposed in 2000 to the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015,which have set the aid framework for countries in the field of international development.As far as Australia is concerned,Australia actively implements the Sustainable Development Goals and has a special chapter for sustainable development in its foreign aid policy.However,the obligations of the international development assistance goals are essentially just a kind of aid commitments and have no binding obligation to perform.In addition to the United Nations,OECD/DAC has also formulated aid concepts and aid rules.In contrast,Australia's aid obligations are fulfilled to a higher degree.Australia follows the aid philosophy and accepts of DAC and obey its standards.However,specifically in the aid rules,such as the peer review evaluation mechanism,Australia just accepts the evaluation comments and has no mandatory responsibility.It can be seen that the current international development assistance mechanism is mainly based on the development assistance framework of OECD/DAC,the inclusiveness for other non-OECD/DAC members needs to be improved.At the same time,the international legal norms of foreign aid are not binding enough.Therefore,this paper recommends two ways to improve the international assistance,which includes promoting the implementation of international development assistance goals and strengthening the global partnership in international development field.The fourth chapter studies the enlightenment of Australian foreign aid legal system to China,including the content of Chinese foreign aid,the deficiencies of Chinese foreign aid legal system,and the reference of Australia's foreign aid legal system to China.At present,the undertakings of Chinese foreign aid are booming.The total amount of foreign aid is among the highest in the world.China has become a major emerging aid donor country.In recent years,China has clearly regarded foreign aid as an important way to promote international cooperation.At the same time,Chinese foreign aid legal system is also facing domestic and international challenges and needs to have further improvement.The shortcomings of Chinese foreign aid legal system are mainly reflected in issues such as unclear foreign aid concepts,a lack of the unified foreign aid legal system,and the lagging aid evaluation and monitoring system.Regarding this issue,this paper proposes to take the following corresponding measures for improvement: Firstly,to clarify the theory and strategy of foreign aid.Australian foreign aid policy and other relevant foreign aid documents complement each other and provide policy support for the foreign aid legal system.The legal system of Chinese foreign aid should also attach importance to the theoretical and political role of foreign aid.Secondly,to regulate the basic foreign aid law which can establish the legal foundation of the foreign aid as well as improving the level of legal effectiveness of foreign aid laws;Thirdly,to establish the foreign aid evaluation and supervision mechanism,and this need to be clarified in the foreign aid legislation.The improvement of the aid transparency and effectiveness depend on the aid mechanism of evaluation and;Finally,to increase legislative considerations in the dimension of international law,which helps to increase Chinese participation and voice in international aid affairs.As an emerging aid donor country,China is an important developing force in global development assistance.It is necessary to use international law perspective in the establishment of in the legal system foreign aid,such as clarifying more aid methods other than bilateral aid and increasing the implementation of international aid commitments.