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Bosnia-Herzegovina

My Lords, I too thank my noble friend Lord Astor of Hever for initiating this important debate. These two provinces, now a federation but once part of the former Yugoslavia, form part of the most fascinating area in the Balkans. Very briefly, they were part of Illyria in the days of the Roman occupation; they then swayed, by military conquest, between Byzantium and Hungary-Croatia. Serbian tribes began to settle during the 7th century, and gradually a local independence was evolved. The complications, as usual, were religious rather than racial. A Bulgarian creed, Bogomilism, soon spread to Bosnia; its primitive communism appealed to people who knew only the tyranny of local or foreign rulers. That is a tiny glimpse of a fascinating history that gives an insight to today’s debate, in which we are looking at the present situation. Of course we have had a fascinating debate, with several knowledgeable and enlightened contributions, as is typical in your Lordships’ House. The noble Lord, Lord Ashdown, the High Representative of the international community, describes the progress made in Bosnia-Herzegovina as nothing short of miraculous. He says:"““The miracle in Bosnia is how much has been done in 10 years. A sixteenth of the population was killed, more than in France after World War II, half the population made homeless, 90 per cent of the buildings destroyed. We have lost touch with how long it takes; healing is always measured in decades””." He is right; a lot has been achieved. But the situation remains fragile. Nearly 300,000 civilians are still waiting to go home. Although Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro earlier this year agreed to try to get everyone back to their towns and villages by the end of 2006, it is not clear whether that goal, ambitious even by Balkan standards, will be met. What progress has been achieved and what help have our Government offered to the countries concerned? Does the Minister agree that, in order for Bosnian refugees and internally displaced persons to be able to return to their pre-war homes in northern Bosnia, it is essential that the Serbs expelled from the Croatian Krajina region are allowed to return to their pre-conflict homes? Croatia was recently officially granted European Union candidate status at the European Council summit in Brussels, yet further progress is needed in the areas of minority rights, refugee returns, judicial reform, and regional co-operation. What representations have been made to the Croatian Government regarding that issue? I turn to the security situation in the region. While overall security in Bosnia has improved immeasurably, the question of whether it is possible to hold Bosnia together and what sort of commitment that will demand from our Armed Forces is important, given the current commitment of British troops across the globe. The UK is supporting the fight against organised crime, as is the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. As we have heard today, Ministers have described the security situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina as stable, with the EU-led operation there continuing to provide a safe and secure environment. However, it is important that that statement is put into context. Recently, in a Written Statement to this house, the noble Lord, Lord Triesman, stated that in a typical three-month period, EUFOR collect some 500 small arms, 200,000 rounds of ammunition, 2,500 hand grenades and over 250 kilograms of explosives. That is in addition to operations against organised crime gangs, fuel smugglers and illegal loggers. It would be misleading to suggest that there are not substantial problems still to be addressed. Most worrying of these is corruption, which has plagued Bosnia since the end of the war. Investment has been slow to materialise and unemployment remains high. The victims of corruption are often the most vulnerable groups—the elderly, the unemployed and other low-income groups, women and minorities, facing a judiciary and administration appointed according to ethnic majority criteria. The situations that I have just outlined suggest that, while the situation may be stable, there are certainly challenges ahead. We recognise that there has been significant progress in several key areas, in infrastructure and the economy. The work of international bodies has helped the country remain relatively peaceful, and GDP has shown a steady rise in recent years. We on this side continue to support EUFOR’s aim to provide an environment in which reform and reconstruction can take place. The UK continues to provide about 1,000 troops in EUFOR, which took over the operations of NATO’s SFOR in December 2004. Earlier this year, we saw the introduction of major reforms to strengthen the role of central government, and the country now has a single defence structure and intelligence service alongside a central judicial system and a single customs service. An important breakthrough was also achieved when agreement was reached in creating a unified multi-ethnic national police force to replace the separate forces operated by the entities. As noble Lords will be aware, reform of policing is a precondition for the start of talks on a stabilisation and association agreement with the EU. This, when the time is right, will be welcome news. The Conservative Party has long been a vocal supporter of the European Union’s enlargement and, like the Secretary of State for Defence, we on these Benches believe that the European Union offers an opportunity for stability and prosperity, which are essential elements at mitigating the worst excesses of nationalism. As several noble Lords have said, there has been insufficient progress to date with the capture of the two Bosnian Serb war crime suspects, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic. Just as it is important to address the arrest of the alleged war criminals, co-operation with the International War Crimes Tribunal, and the return of refugees and internally displaced persons, so it is essential to address corruption and organised crime in Bosnia-Herzegovina—a problem sadly not unique to the federation in the Balkans—both to minimize the consequences for Europe and to facilitate the country’s progress toward EU integration.