§ Mr. NormanTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what provision he has made to provide advice and guidance to UK-based relatives of persons involved in the Kosovo crisis who wish to bring their families to the United Kingdom. [84852]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienAdvice and guidance for United Kingdom-based relatives of persons involved in the Kosovo crisis has been drawn up by the Home Office in consultation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the British Red Cross and the Refugee Council. This has been distributed to all Government Departments and non-governmental organisations concerned including any ethnic Albanian organisation that requested it.
The Kosovo Unit of the Home Office has dealt with in the region of 1,000 telephone calls from United Kingdom-based relatives of persons involved in the crisis and offered appropriate guidance on the steps they, and their relatives, should take. This advice is that those members of the public who wish to bring their families to the United Kingdom from the Kosovo region should contact the British Red Cross United Kingdom Family Reunion Service who are liaising with UNHCR and the Home Office in the compilation of family lists.
UNHCR have recently confirmed that they are unable to undertake this role other than in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. In order to help UNHCR and at their request, a Home Office team went out to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on 9 May to assist with the process of registering refugees. We are considering how this initiative might be widened to assist with family reunion applications in the wider region. These will be considered in accordance with our family reunion concession. This provides for close family members (spouse and minor children and in exceptional circumstances, a family member who formed part of the family unit before fleeing to seek asylum) to join any persons who are settled or granted asylum in the United Kingdom. This concession is being extended to families in the United Kingdom who have been granted exceptional leave to enter as part of UNHCR's Humanitarian Evacuation Programme.
Revised guidance is being prepared to reflect these new arrangements, also in consultation with UNHCR, the British Red Cross and the Refugee Council. The initial advice to family members to register details of relatives in the region with the offices of the British Red Cross in the United Kingdom remains valid.
28W