Myanmar

Imran Hussain Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Nigel Adams]

I know how passionate my hon. Friend feels about values and democracy, and I assure him that the United Kingdom places the highest premium on respect for democracy and the rules-based international system. We have been talking to regional and international partners about that, and we call on Myanmar to respect the principles of the ASEAN charter, including the rule of law, good governance, as I mentioned, and the principles of democracy and constitutional government.

[Imran Hussain (Bradford East) (Lab) [V]]

For over three years, I have repeatedly called for the Government to enact sanctions against the Burmese military for its brutality in the Rohingya genocide, but on each occasion those calls were rejected by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, which essentially told me that imposing sanctions would endanger the fledgling democracy in the country. Does the Minister now agree that this military coup shows that those were unfounded claims and, frankly, poor excuses for refusing to act in the face of the genocide against the Rohingya? Instead, the Government did more harm than good by emboldening the Burmese military.

[Nigel Adams]

I am not sure whether the hon. Gentleman has kept up to speed, but in fact the United Kingdom has already imposed sanctions on military individuals, including the commander-in-chief and his deputy. We are absolutely clear. If the hon. Gentleman’s campaigning over the past three years on this issue has led to that, I congratulate him, but we have already delivered sanctions for human rights violations in Myanmar. Let us be absolutely clear, the commander-in-chief and his deputy are the architects of this current crisis.