HC Deb 11 November 1998 vol 319 cc358-9
7. Dr. Norman A. Godman (Greenock and Inverclyde)

What assistance has been given by (a) her Department and (b) the European Union to the people made homeless in Kosovo in recent months. [57807]

The Secretary of State for International Development (Clare Short)

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is taking the lead in co-ordinating humanitarian assistance in Kosovo. We have provided £3 million in emergency assistance since March and the EC some £6.5 million. Those and other contributions should meet immediate needs; at the moment, the UNHCR does have enough money. We are in close touch with it and with other agencies and will shortly send a mission from my Department to review the position and to assess future needs.

Dr. Godman

I welcome my right hon. Friend's contribution, but I hope that the recalcitrance of certain elements of the Kosovo Liberation Army will not deter the European Union from providing the substantial funds that are needed for a major house-building programme. Should not the KLA be urged to play the long game in relation to its aspirations for independence to help with the rebuilding of the infrastructure?

Clare Short

I agree completely with my hon. Friend. First, I assure him that the resources will be provided, so that people can rebuild their houses and go home; of course, the monitors are necessary to give them the security to feel safe when they go home. Secondly, we all understand the proper sense of grievance that people in Kosovo have, but fighting to establish an independent state will not help them. It is much better to proceed with the support of the international community and democratically.

Mr. Gary Streeter (South-West Devon)

The Secretary of State will probably be aware—because her officials helpfully provided briefing for me—that I spent five days last week in Kosovo I saw at first hand the terrible plight of some of the 200,000 displaced people and some of their 20,000 destroyed homes. She will already know that many of them are living in unspeakable conditions and winter is arriving. Does she agree that the aid agencies are doing an excellent job in trying to meet the immediate short-term problems of food, shelter and medicine, but that their life would be made a lot easier if some of the payments from ECHO—the European Community Humanitarian Office—could be speeded up? Many of them talked of a logjam in the system.

Will the right hon. Lady confirm that her Department is committed to the region in the longer term and, in particular, will she set out her thoughts on support for health care and education in the longer term? Does she agree that this is, after all, a country in Europe and, as is so often the case, it is when the shooting stops that the problems begin?

Clare Short

I certainly agree with the hon. Gentleman that the needs are great. I think that we are pretty well organised—non-governmental organisations led by the UNHCR are working. We are a bit worried that too many organisations are going in. It is better if we have more organisations specialising. I agree with him that we must get people home and get proper housing constructed for them, so that they can survive the winter.

On ECHO, it is true that the disbursement of all EC funds is disappointingly slow. There is a need for great increases in efficiency in the whole development sector and we are working hard to try to achieve that.

In terms of long-term support, we hope that, if we can achieve peace and respect for human rights in Kosovo, as in the whole of the Balkans, the normal investment that would come from the World bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and so on could quickly reconstruct these economies. They are basically educated people with plenty of resources. It is all the war and conflict that is causing so much damage.