HC Deb 19 June 2000 vol 352 cc87-8W
Mr. Hilary Benn

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of Kosovan refugees who have returned home from the UK in the last 12 months have gone back to(a) their own homes and (b) temporary accommodation; and if he will make a statement.[126079]

Mrs. Roche

Up to 15 June, 2,177 Kosovans had returned permanently from the United Kingdom, of whom 1,731 had arrived under the United Nations High Commission for Refugees Humanitarian Evacuation Programme. According to a Refugee Council survey of permanent returnees on the point of departure up to 9 June, 59 per cent. would be staying in their own house, 36 per cent. would be staying with relatives or friends and 5 per cent. did not specify where they were staying.

Mr. Hilary Benn

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish the advice he has received from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees concerning her recommendations as regards the return of Kosovan refugees.[126292]

Mrs. Roche

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has recently issued two papers which address the issue of the return of Kosovan refugees: "Kosovo Albanians in Asylum countries: UNHCR Recommendations as regards Return"; and, UNHCR's "Background Note on Ethnic Albanians Who are in Continued Need of International Protection". Both papers were issued in March 2000, and copies have been placed in the Library.