§ Mr. LesterTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 18 June,Official Report, column 682, if he will make a statement about Britain's current humanitarian and other assistance to the people of Cambodia.
§ Mrs. ChalkerI am monitoring the situation closely and announced that I would make up to £100,000 available for British non-government organisations to help civil war displaced people inside Cambodia. My officials are in touch with interested NGOs about this.
Since 1988–89 under the Overseas Development Administration's joint funding scheme we have committed 629W £565,000 in support of 12 humanitarian assistance projects carried out by non-government organisations. We currently have a number of other NGO project proposals under consideration and expect to receive more applications. In addition we have allocated £1.25 million to support programmes in Cambodia carried out by the United Nation's Children's Fund, the World Food Programme and the World Health Organisation; these include provision of safe water supplies, food for work schemes, primary health care, education and assistance for agricultural development. We have also provided nearly £15 million since 1979 in assistance for refugees on the Thai-Cambodian border.
For the future, we are ready to consider with other donors, initially in a reconvened Paris International Conference on Cambodia, how refugee repatriation and development/reconstruction needs might best be met in the context of a comprehensive political settlement.