Oral Answers to Questions

Barry Sheerman Excerpts

Tuesday 4th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr David Burrowes (Enfield, Southgate) (Con)]

1. What representations he has made to the Burmese Government on resolving the situation in Rakhine state.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

6. What steps he is taking to promote peace and reconciliation in Burma.

[Richard Fuller (Bedford) (Con)]

10. What steps he is taking with the Burmese and Bangladeshi Governments to assist the Rohingya Muslim community.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Swire]

We very much welcome the statement that Aung San Suu Kyi made on 9 November, as chairman of the parliamentary committee on the rule of law, on the situation in Rakhine state. The issue was raised with her by my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary when she was here in June, and our ambassador has raised it with her since. I will travel to that part of the world shortly and I will certainly discuss the issue with her, because I believe she has a role in resolving it and, indeed, all the problems facing Burma today.

[Mr Sheerman]

We hear what the Minister says, but the situation is of great concern to all of us who care about minorities. I have been a critic in this House of the way in which Christians have been treated by Muslims in Pakistan—that is on the record—but this is a question of Muslims being persecuted in Burma. Can the United Nations and this country’s leadership and Government not do something about it?

[Mr Swire]

Of course we remain extremely concerned about the situation in Burma, but we believe that it is moving in the right direction. We welcome President Obama’s recent visit there and I shall be taking a trade delegation on my visit. We believe that engaging with the Government commercially as well as politically is the right way to proceed. We are concerned about the ethnic violence and issues of religion, and we remain concerned—I shall raise these points forcefully when I am there—about the issue of the remaining political prisoners.