Myanmar

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Nigel Adams]

I know how passionately my hon. Friend feels about these issues, particularly with regard to his work with the former Foreign Secretary prior to being elected to this House. I repeat that it is completely unacceptable for a democratically elected Government to be overthrown by the military in this way. We are, of course, working with international partners on all the issues he refers to, and we will continue to do so. We are monitoring the situation, and we have been very concerned about the humanitarian situation over the last 72 hours. As he will appreciate, following a military coup it is difficult to get to the places we need to be, but he is right to raise the issues and we will continue to monitor the situation extremely closely.

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

This appalling military coup and overthrow of a democratically elected Government is undoubtedly a major setback for the progress and development of Myanmar. However, the likes of me are particularly concerned about the desperate plight of the Rohingya Muslims, who have faced a genocide. Approximately a million had to flee their own country and are now refugees in Bangladesh and other nations. What is the Minister doing to spearhead an international effort to ensure that there is no further crackdown by the authoritarian military regime on the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya still in Myanmar, many of whom are interned in camps and unable to move freely, with extremely limited access to basic health and education services?

[Nigel Adams]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his point, which is well made. As he will appreciate, the situation in the country is evolving rapidly. We are monitoring the situation as closely as we can, but we are also working closely with our partners. I talked about us convening the meeting this afternoon in New York so that we can have a joint response with the UN Security Council.

I assure him that we will ensure that we continue to provide life-saving humanitarian assistance, including for the Rohingya. We are alert to the possibility of all sorts of horrific violence, such as identity-based violence, being committed—there are reports of that. We are one of the largest donors to Rakhine state, which is one of the poorest states in Myanmar. Our assistance helps with education, nutrition, livelihoods and health, and we are supporting all communities.