Kosovar Refugees (Hansard, 16 June 1999)

§ 5. Mr. Dominic Grieve (Beaconsfield)
What actions she is taking to ensure that the humanitarian assistance to Kosovar refugees is of the highest standards; and if she will make a statement. [85877]

§ 6. Mr. Nigel Griffiths (Edinburgh, South)
What estimate she has made of expenditure to date on aid and supplies to assist the Kosovar refugees. [85979]

§ 8. Mr. Bill Rammell (Harlow)
If she will make a statement on the progress of plans to support Kosovar refugees in the region around Kosovo. [85981]

§ The Secretary of State for International Development (Clare Short)
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is the internationally designated lead agency responsible for co-ordinating provision for the refugees from Kosovo and for their return to Kosovo. We have worked since the beginning of the crisis to try to support and improve its efforts. We have provided £40 million of assistance to date, and on Monday we announced a further £50 million to support the process of return to Kosovo. Details of our spending, which has been channelled through the most effective agencies, are available in the Library. Provision is being made to cater for winter conditions from October onwards.

§ Mr. Grieve
Will the Minister expand a little on the answer that she gave to an earlier question on the European Union's role in channelling funds? In what areas is she concerned about whether that is an efficient method of ensuring that the aid is provided?

§ Clare Short
The hon. Gentleman will know that the European Union's efficiency in that area is very poor, so we have published a plan to try to achieve improvements and the Select Committee on International Development has published a very good report. As my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary just said, our criticism is being accepted and we will achieve a major reorganisation. That will not guarantee greatly improved efficiency, but it represents an opportunity to achieve it.
The European Community Humanitarian Office—ECHO—has worked hard, under Emma Bonino, to make improvements, and has worked well to disburse funds during the Kosovo crisis. The EU will be a lead spender in the reconstruction of the Balkans, and we shall have to work hard to make sure that the money is well spent. The link with the World Bank should improve matters.

§ Mr. Griffiths
We know how much work my right hon. Friend's Department has done to help the refugees during the crisis. Will she ensure that having worked round the clock, her staff will continue to get the resources that they need until the refugees have gone home?

§ Clare Short
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his praise. I have enormously dedicated staff in my Department, particularly in the conflict and humanitarian affairs department where staff deal with crises. They are under strict instructions to take some leave and not to work all hours; otherwise, they will be unable to sustain their work for as long as they are needed to help with 382 the reconstruction of Kosovo. As my hon. Friend said, more resources will be needed. Getting people home will be much harder than helping them to leave Kosovo. It will be a much more welcome task, but it will take time and a lot of resources. As my hon. Friend knows, we have just committed an extra £50 million to that task, but more will probably be needed.

§ Mr. Rammell
I welcome the additional resources that have just been announced. They demonstrate that not only were we justified in taking military action, but we are now prepared to back up that action with much needed money to support the refugees. What will be the immediate priorities on the ground for the spending of that additional money? How quickly can we begin to spend it? How will the programme be managed on the ground by the Department?

§ Clare Short
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his comments. This has been a new kind of conflict in which humanitarian disaster and military action have been absolutely entangled, rather than separate, so we have been disbursing resources from the beginning. There has been repression of people in Kosovo and refugees. Our priorities are demining and mine education. There will be terrible accidents. Families who have been driven out are returning and their children are being blown up or losing limbs. We are doing all that we can to remove mines, to survey mines and to educate refugees about the problems of mines. Beyond that, they need food, medical supplies and equipment to enable them to rebuild their houses. They will then need longer-term help with reconstruction.

§ Mr. Gary Streeter (South-West Devon)
The Secretary of State will be aware of the UNHCR plan to help the refugees to go home, which appears to anticipate refugees beginning to return after three weeks of NATO going into Kosovo, with the main return following three or four months of liberation. Although I understand the need for caution and safety, is that not hopelessly out of touch with reality? Many people are already going home and, understandably, many more will wish to go home following the withdrawal of the Serb forces this weekend. Is there anything that the right hon. Lady can do to encourage the UNHCR to be more realistic and flexible, and to come up with a better plan?

§ Clare Short
I agree completely—this must be an historic first—with every word that the hon. Gentleman has just said. The UNHCR has appealed to refugees not to return home for a month, but people who can see their villages across the border and who get word that things are now safe are choosing when to go home. We owe full information to the refugees so that they may make their own decisions. We expect waves of movement, as we saw in Bosnia. The fit and young are first to find out what their home is like and to start to repair it. When they have put things in place, they send for children and the elderly. People are already moving and making their own decisions, but we must educate them, especially the children, about mines because there will be terrible accidents.