Rakhine and Kachin State (Human Rights)

Mark Simmonds Excerpts

Wednesday 12th June 2013 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mark Simmonds)]

I am pleased to see you in the Chair this morning, Mr Hood, and I am delighted to be under your guidance.

I congratulate the hon. Member for Bolton South East (Yasmin Qureshi) on securing this important debate, and on the articulate and passionate way in which she put her case. She is absolutely right to highlight the concerns about human rights, sexual violence, displaced people and other ethnic violence, as well as the humanitarian concerns that she articulated. Many other hon. Members made a significant number of points, which, unfortunately, I will not have time to address in their totality this morning, although I will try to deal with the particular points made in the debate. If I do not have time to respond to all of them, I or the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), will of course be happy to do so in writing after the debate.

I must first reiterate a point that the right hon. Member for Warley (Mr Spellar) and other hon. Members have made. There has been progress in Burma in the last two years. Hundreds of political prisoners have been released, most notably Aung San Suu Kyi, who now sits in the Burmese Parliament building alliances and working to strengthen the process of reform. There has been a general relaxation of the crippling censorship and onerous infringements of freedom of expression that once characterised Burma. Civil society organisations, non-governmental organisations, unions and individuals are freer to organise and to act. The international community—Governments, NGOs and others—deserve praise for their significant pressure on successive Burmese Governments, which has led to the improvements of the past two years. However, that does not mean that there are not significant issues that need to be addressed, as we have heard this morning, and that progress is not still a long and difficult road ahead.

It is right to acknowledge the strides that have been made in Burma since President Thein Sein took office, and it is also right to continue to express our concerns and to take action. Human rights and ethnic reconciliation remain at the heart of UK policy and our discussions with the Burmese Government. I assure hon. Members that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development are significantly engaged at senior ministerial level with Burma. The Minister of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Devon, was the first EU Minister to visit Rakhine last year. He visited five camps for people displaced by the violence and heard for himself the terrible stories that the hon. Member for Bethnal Green and Bow (Rushanara Ali) outlined in her articulate contribution. He also heard the stories of loss and abuse. He raised at all levels in the Burmese Government the need for a co-ordinated humanitarian response, accountability and security. That has been followed up by the Foreign Secretary and other Ministers in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development.

I want to take the opportunity to address head-on the point made by hon. Members about European Union sanctions. As the right hon. Member for Warley rightly said, the arms embargo has not been lifted. Its purpose, which was agreed in the EU, was to deepen engagement and to encourage reformists. It was also agreed and suggested by Aung San Suu Kyi, although she has said that it

“is time we let these sanctions go...we can’t go on relying on sanctions forever to aid the democracy movement.”

I assure hon. Members that human rights will be at the centre of UK and EU policy on Burma. EU Foreign Ministers have agreed a comprehensive framework that sets out how we will work with the Burmese Government and apply pressure on them to address the many challenges that Burma still faces.

My right hon. Friend the Member for Hazel Grove (Andrew Stunell) made a key point about the importance of humanitarian aid and the alleviation of suffering in parts of Burma. It is not just about those who are suffering from being internally displaced, although that is of course a pressing concern. The UN is building temporary shelters for 24,000 people, but 40,000 more remain vulnerable to flooding, a point that hon. Members rightly made. We must continue to do more. Significant work has been done and continues to be done, but I want to ensure that hon. Members understand that we do not pass UK taxpayers’ money through Burmese Government mechanisms; we do so through the NGO community, most if not all of which does sterling and excellent work on the ground.

We are a leading donor to Burma and in the past few years no country has given more humanitarian aid to the Burmese people than the UK. Our commitment to aid for Burma is £187 million over four years until 2015. If hon. Members are interested, I will be happy to provide details of the geographical breakdown of where that money is being spent. It is focused on health care, responsible investment, good governance, improving livelihoods, strengthening the work of Parliament and civil society, and, importantly, assisting people affected by conflict with a focus on ethnic reconciliation.

Britain also has a package of emergency measures. Nearly 80,000 people will be able to access safe drinking water and improved sanitation facilities. Acutely malnourished children will receive treatment in the rural camps to which some hon. Members referred, and hygiene kits will be available for 40,000 people. There is significant co-ordination and co-operation between the FCO and DFID to ensure that we maximise the impact on the ground of UK taxpayers’ money.

My right hon. Friend the Member for Hazel Grove referred to the relationship between the UK and Burmese militaries. At the request of Aung San Suu Kyi during her meeting with the Prime Minister last year, we have an accredited defence attaché in Burma. She specifically recommended that appointment as a key channel for engagement with the Burmese military. As my right hon. Friend said, the Chief of the Defence Staff visited Burma from 2 to 4 June as the next stage of our engagement. I assure my right hon. Friend and other hon. Members that the focus of that engagement will be on adherence to the core principles of democratic accountability and human rights. There must be accountability for those who took part in and organised last year’s violence. The process of justice must be in accordance with the rule of law and should adhere to international standards. Accountability is important in its own right and underpins the process of reconciliation between the Rohingya and Rakhine communities.

The hon. Member for Bolton South East made an essential point related to the recent report from Human Rights Watch—the UN special rapporteur raised similar concerns in his report in February. I reiterate the point that she rightly articulated: the report contains disturbing and specific allegations, backed up by evidence. We will follow up those allegations directly with the Burmese Government. If serious crimes have been committed, those who perpetrated them must be held to account for their specific actions. That should be done through a clear and transparent investigative and prosecution process that meets international standards. Further investigative work must fully establish the facts that will be required for an informed assessment of whether ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity have been committed. The Government are looking carefully and seriously at the contents of those reports.

Some hon. Members referred to the two-child policy. I want to put on record the fact that a presidential spokesman in Burma said on 2 June that the central Government did not announce the Rohingya two-child policy and that it would be looked into. I am happy to keep the House informed as the matter develops.

Finally, I want to address a point that several hon. Members made about the initiative on preventing sexual violence in conflict. There is support for the initiative throughout the House, and significant progress has been made in engaging the international community, including at the G8 Foreign Ministers’ meeting in London in April. Sadly, Burma is not the only place that suffers from terrible and unacceptable levels of sexual violence. Somalia, Mali, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and Syria are but a few examples. As the right hon. Member for Warley pointed out, during the summer the British embassy in Rangoon will scope options for increasing UK engagement and embedding the initiative to tackle sexual violence in Burma. Wherever it occurs, whether in conflict or elsewhere, sexual violence is completely unacceptable, and the impunity that has existed for too long must be stopped.

The hon. Member for Walsall South (Valerie Vaz) rightly raised the issues in Kachin state. Although significant challenges remain, there has been progress recently, which we should encourage. With its expertise in Northern Ireland, the UK is playing a positive role.

In conclusion, the UK will remain a constructive, supportive and critical partner for Burma, committed to supporting reform efforts to ensure that the Burmese people, wherever they live in Burma, can live in peace and harmony, for the betterment of themselves and their families.