Written question asked by Lord Hylton (Crossbench) on Wednesday, 15 October 2014, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 29 October 2014. It was answered by Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat) on Thursday, 23 October 2014 on behalf of the Department for International Development.

North Africa

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will help to set up systems, for example using satellites or drones, in order to prevent migrants attempting to cross the Sahara from dying from heat and thirst.

Answer: DFID is working in Africa to improve the conditions for the poorest people and to address overall stability and security. DFID monitors the numbers of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Sahel region as part of routine humanitarian surveillance but does not specifically monitor routes followed by irregular migrants. There are no plans to set up such monitoring systems. Similarly DFID provides humanitarian support across the Sahel region to refugees and IDPs, with £12m to UNHCR for refugee support and £17.5m through ICRC in support of conflict affected people provided across the region since January 2013. DFID Ethiopia also is providing £0.5m support to Eritrean refugees. This includes sensitisation messages on the difficulties of legal and illegal migration, and support for unaccompanied children who need special protection.

Secondary information