International War Crimes Tribunal (Kosovo) (Hansard, 22 April 1999)

§ Mr. Menzies Campbell
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps are being taken to ensure that(a) relevant intelligence information gathered by NATO in recent weeks is made available to the International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and (b) the tribunal receives adequate resources to enable it to carry out its work in respect of events in Kosovo. [81649]

§ Mr. Tony Lloyd
A senior FCO official, David Gowan, has been appointed to be Kosovo War Crimes Coordinator. He will be responsible for ensuring that the Government pass as much information as possible, including intelligence, to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia that might be relevant to the Tribunal's investigations. The Tribunal's budget, set by the UN, is 51 per cent. larger this year than last. The Tribunal is devoting substantial effort to investigating events in Kosovo, but we are not aware that it needs additional funds at present.

§ Mr. Austin
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what additional supplementary contributions the Government are giving to the International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to enable it to carry out its work in relation to the events in Kosovo. [81730]

§ Mr. Tony Lloyd
. The Government have already contributed £290,000 this year to support various aspects of the work of the International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, in addition to the UK's assessed contribution for 1999 of US$5.08m. The Tribunal has not so far sought further financial contributions for its work on Kosovo. We will give careful consideration to any such requests should they be made. We are also considering certain requests for assistance in kind, in addition to the assistance with information on atrocities that we are already providing to the Tribunal.

§ Mr. Austin
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will ask the UN General Assembly to make a special allocation to the International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to meet the needs of the Tribunal arising from the events in Kosovo. [81729]

§ Mr. Tony Lloyd
The United Nations General Assembly allocated the International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia a budget for 1999 which was 51 per cent. greater than that allocated for 1998. The Tribunal has not so far sought a further budget provision to cover its work relating to Kosovo. We would give sympathetic consideration to any such request to the General Assembly.