§ 79. Mr. Roseasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what sums are currently being given by Her Majesty's Government towards helping refugees and homeless caused by war or persecution in Nigeria, Jordan, Syria and Israel, respectively.
§ Mr. Anthony RoyleThe following is the information requested. Aid for refugees and homeless in Nigeria is at present being provided under a grant for relief and rehabilitation offered to the Nigerian Government in January, 1970. It is expected that this whole sum will have been disbursed by March, 1971. In all we have given a total of some £3.608 million since July, 1967, over and above our normal aid programme, as a contribution to the relief of suffering caused by the war in Nigeria.
Her Majestys Government do not provide aid to refugees in the Arab countries in the Middle East on a country-by-country basis. We do, however, subscribe annually to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (U.N.R.W.A.). Our regular contribution for the financial year 1970–71 was £1,875,000, and we have also agreed, subject to Parliamentary approval—and provided that other major contributors do the same—to subscribe an additional £80,000 in the present financial year to help make good the damage 436W U.N.R.W.A. suffered during the recent fighting in Jordan.
It is impossible to break down our contributions to U.N.R.W.A. between individual Arab countries serviced by the Agency. But a pro rata calculation, based on the numbers of refugees on U.N.R.W.A.'s books in Jordan and Syria respectively, suggests that in 1970–71 about £1,017,000 of our contribution will be spent on refugees in Jordan, and some £207,000 on refugees in Syria. It should be emphasised that such a method of calculation can only be roughly approximate at best.
U.N.R.W.A. does not provide assistance to refugees in Israel, and therefore we do not contribute to the relief of refugees there through our subscription to U.N.R.W.A. Nor do we contribute directly to such relief, but private charitable organisations based in this country may do so.