| answer text |
<p>The budget for election observation missions (EOMs) is devolved to each Foreign
and Commonwealth Office (FCO) geographical department, so figures are not held centrally.
This year the UK has sent observers to the OSCE EOMs in Russia, Turkey, Azerbaijan,
and Montenegro, and will be sending observers to the EOMs in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Macedonia and Moldova. We shall assess which OSCE EOMs the UK will send observers
to in 2019 once we have confirmation from the OSCE of the elections they plan to observe.</p><p>In
addition, the UK funds observers to EU EOMs through our delivery partner, the Westminster
Foundation for Democracy. We have also granted the Commonwealth Secretariat £1.8m
for their work across the Commonwealth on EOMs.</p><p>There has been no change in
policy on the UK's commitment to supporting election observation missions. It will
not be possible to fund observers for every mission. We focus our contributions where
they can have most practical impact, whether through EOMs or other democracy initiatives,
such as those detailed in the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/human-rights-and-democracy-report-2017"
target="_blank">2017 FCO Human Rights Report</a>.</p>
|
|
