Alyn Smith: ...on the facts, there was extreme moral hazard, and that is why we are in the mess that we are today with Ukraine. We see the Kremlin’s activities in Ukraine and Georgia, but we also see moves in Bosnia and elsewhere in the Balkans. Sadly, Russian state and non-state actors interfere in the internal politics of many other countries, always with the aim to destabilise, and to create and...
Alyn Smith: ...on the facts, there was extreme moral hazard, and that is why we are in the mess that we are today with Ukraine. We see the Kremlin’s activities in Ukraine and Georgia, but we also see moves in Bosnia and elsewhere in the Balkans. Sadly, Russian state and non-state actors interfere in the internal politics of many other countries, always with the aim to destabilise, and to create and...
Stuart Anderson: ..., but I want to get across my personal experience with NATO, both past and present. Looking back to when I was a young, fresh-faced soldier many years ago, I served on operations under NATO in both Bosnia and Kosovo, and I got to see the front end of what that looks like. Now, over 20 years later, I am in Parliament, and I sit on the Defence Committee and I am hugely honoured to sit on the...
Alicia Kearns: ..., whether his Department has had discussions with NATO allies on the sale of military jets to Serbia; and whether his Department has made an assessment of the (i) level of risk of escalation in Bosnia and (ii) implications for its policies of the absence of Serbian sanctions against Russia in the context of that matter.
Luke Pollard: ...attacks on Odesa, Russian concentration on a land corridor along the Black sea, the risk of escalation—deliberate escalation—in Moldova and Transnistria, and the threats in the Caucasus, Bosnia and the Baltic states. That needs a clear plan from Ministers, and one that can be resourced, scrutinised and supported, because there is cross-party support for this. However, there are also...
Alyn Smith: ...the right hon. Member for Tottenham (Mr Lammy), about the risks in Moldova. A desperate Kremlin will use other fronts to try to foment discord, dissent and danger. I think particularly of Moldova, Bosnia and the caucuses. We need to be very alive to the prospect of that risk. On accountability, I have called for, and support, the efforts that the UK is making to support the Ukrainian...
Stephen Doughty: ...back in March. Can the Minister say what wider discussions he is having with our allies and special representatives in the region, and with Serbia, to maintain peace, democracy and stability in Bosnia, Kosovo and beyond and to counter Russian and domestic threats to undermine all those?
Nusrat Ghani: ...that the Department has taken this step, and it is incredibly important that we look at Xinjiang in particular, where Sir Geoffrey Nice QC determined there has been a genocide, as there was in Bosnia. The sanctioned MPs and all our colleagues in the inter-parliamentary alliance on China will work with the Department to ensure we have no Uyghur slave-made products in our NHS.
Boris Johnson: ...the Russian forces that if we can proceed with the international criminal prosecutions that we want to see, they will eventually face justice in the way that those who participated in massacres in Bosnia faced justice in the past. I hope that that will have a chilling effect on their current appalling conduct.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Sanctions are an important part of the UK toolkit for the Western Balkans. We have an autonomous Bosnia and Herzegovina sanctions regime which we keep under constant review. In close coordination with our US, European and other international partners, we are reviewing a range of restrictive measures to introduce consequences for destabilising and dangerous behaviour. These include sanctions...
Stephen Doughty: ...rape of women during the 1937 Nanking occupation to the estimated 200,000 women subjected to rape during the fight for independence in Bangladesh. We have also seen victims of sexual violence in Bosnia and, more recently, as I have raised with the Minister, in Tigray and Myanmar. It is because of those heinous examples, and countless others, that rape and sexual violence have had to be...
James Cleverly: The UK welcomed the US decision in January to impose sanctions in response to ongoing threats to Bosnia and Herzegovina's stability. Sanctions are also an important part of the UK toolkit for Bosnia and Herzegovina. In close coordination with our US, European and other international partners, we are reviewing a range of restrictive measures to introduce consequences for destabilising and...
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: ...and stability across the region. We are using our programme funds to increase resilience against malign activity such as state-sponsored cyber-attacks, and we are deepening economic ties. In Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), we support the recent increase in personnel deployed as part of the Operation ALTHEA peace stabilisation force, and we are reviewing a range of restrictive measures,...
Baroness Helic: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of Russia's membership of the (1) Bosnia and Herzegovina Peace Implementation Council, and (2) the Peace Implementation Council Steering Board, in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; and what assessment they have made as to whether Russia’s membership should be reviewed.
Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what peace-building projects are being funded by UK Aid in Bosnia Herzegovina.
John Baron: ...had to close 20 country operations, which is an ongoing process. Those countries were Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the USA, Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta, Switzerland, Belgium, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Afghanistan, Chile, Namibia, Uruguay, South Sudan and Sierra Leone. That is a long list of countries, including the Five Eyes and others, where...
James Cleverly: ...for concern. That has, unsurprisingly, generated huge passion, as we have seen today, and I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Putney (Fleur Anderson) for her direct, first-hand experience in Bosnia during and immediately after the most difficult period in that country’s recent history. The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) is beautifully elegant in his self-deprecating way, but...
Fleur Anderson: ...undertaken”, there needs to be “follow-up support”, and “move-on plans must be put in place”. I call on the Minister to tell us how the pairings will be made. When I was an aid worker in Bosnia, I saw a lot of things during the war and after it, but the thing I most remember and most haunts me is the times I had to turn away people who were seeking aid—I had to make choices...
Jackie Doyle-Price: ...to deal with my emotions. Thinking of war situations where women are leaving or seeing their sons, husbands and fathers being involved in fighting, 30 years ago last week the independent state of Bosnia was founded, having itself been subjected to significant wars. I am reminded of my regular visits to Srebrenica and the memorial at PotoÄari, which is lovingly maintained by bereaved...
Ben Wallace: ...an international community. We have all received emails from constituents who want to help, and I urge colleagues to channel them in the right direction. Some of us are old enough to remember the Bosnia war, and I know from soldiers who were on the ground that lots of well-meaning people drove out there and put at risk both themselves and the forces whose job it was to protect them. We...