Kosovo refugees 'disappear'

Kosovan families fled the destruction of their villages

Up to 2,500 refugees from Kosovo who fled to Britain last summer cannot now be traced, the Home Office has admitted.

Some of them are thought to have gone into hiding as their permits to stay in the UK expire.

The situation is potentially embarrassing for Home Secretary Jack Straw who had promised all Kosovo refugees would be returned home once their 12-month leave to stay ended.

More than 4,000 Kosovans were given sanctuary in Britain last April as they escaped Serbian aggression in the former Yugoslavia.

'Significant proportion'

Unlike asylum seekers from other countries, they did not have to register their whereabouts with the authorities but were expected to return home at the end of their year-long permits.

By 1 June this year the Home Office said 1,527 refugees had gone back to Kosovo under a government-funded voluntary repatriation programme.

A further 410 and their dependants had sought extensions to their exceptional leave or were claiming asylum.

But a Home Office spokesman was unable to say how many of the remaining 2,409 were in reception centres or refugee accommodation, only that it was a "significant proportion".

The Home Office said: "We very much hope that having enjoyed the hospitality of this country the remainder will return voluntarily when their leave expires."

'Empty promise'

However, agencies including the Red Cross and the Refugee Council say many refugees want to stay in Britain and some will be working illegally on the black market.

Shadow home secretary Ann Widdecombe said the situation proved the need for all asylum seekers to be detained on entering the country.

"Jack Straw said last year that we were offering these people leave to stay for 12 months. That is now exposed as a completely empty promise," she told The Sunday Telegraph.

"He made that promise in the full knowledge that he would not be able to find these refugees or take any action against them.

"That is precisely why we want universal detention of asylum seekers."