Baroness Helic – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Helic on 2015-11-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what recent discussions they have had with the government of Bosnia-Herzegovina about the refugee and migrant crisis in the Western Balkans, and what provisions are in place to offer (1) UK, and (2) EU, support to the government of Bosnia-Herzegovina in the event of an influx of refugees and migrants into that country.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We are in contact with all governments of the region on the migration crisis. On 23 September, the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), pledged a UK contribution of £308,078 to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)’s Sarajevo office for contingency planning. This was part of a wider pledge of £3.1 million of aid to international agencies to support Western Balkans countries affected by the migration crisis. On 1 November, the Secretary of State for International Development, my right hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Justine Greening), announced a further £5 million of humanitarian aid to the countries on the Eastern Mediterranean route. We are also contributing substantially through EU assistance programmes in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The EU has provided €8.5 million of migration-related assistance to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Some of this has been spent on technical assistance for effectively managing migration and asylum. It has also been spent on supply of equipment and on the construction of a reception facility for migrants. The EU is due to spend a further €2 million to support BiH’s border police.
