Myanmar and Bangladesh: Rohingya

Baroness Burt of Solihull Excerpts

Tuesday 11th July 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Goldie]

Again, I thank the noble Baroness for a very pertinent question. The British Government remain concerned over continued human rights abuses in Burma’s ethnic border areas, where hostilities are still taking place. We have repeatedly called on the military to end hostilities comprehensively, and called on all sides to enter into dialogue towards a sustainable and comprehensive nationwide ceasefire and political reconciliation process. Those points are made repeatedly through diplomatic conduits; the Foreign Secretary made those points in January this year, and the then Minister for Asia and the Pacific, Mr Alok Sharma, made the same points to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on 27 February. We continue to take an interest in, and endeavour to represent, concerns about the detained Kachin pastors and the three Shan journalists.

[Baroness Burt of Solihull (LD)]

My Lords, noble Lords across this House will have been shocked by the horrific treatment of the Rohingya outlined in the BROUK report, which highlights the need for a UN inquiry into those human rights violations. Very disappointingly, Aung San Suu Kyi has refused it entry. What steps can the Government take to enable a UN inquiry into human rights violations happening against the Rohingya?

[Baroness Goldie]

I thank the noble Baroness for raising an important point. The United Kingdom Government were very concerned to learn of the Deputy Foreign Minister telling the Burmese Parliament on 30 June that it would refuse to issue visas to members of the fact-finding mission. That is certainly not the positive progress for the fact-finding mission that we would wish for, or that the United Nations or the membership states would wish for. As I say, there is very active diplomatic engagement between the United Kingdom and Burma, and we continue to prosecute the case robustly for co-operating with these United Nations initiatives. We await with interest the final report of Mr Kofi Annan’s advisory commission in August.