Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment has been made of the trend in the humanitarian situation in Rakhine State; and what steps she is taking to support refugees fleeing violence in that area.

We have no access to northern Rakhine State so cannot accurately predict humanitarian needs; triangulating numerous sources of information we assess that needs are likely to be acute for the entire population, both ethnic Rakhine and Rohingya. In addition to the 480,000 Rohingya now displaced into Bangladesh, the Government of Burma has stated it estimates a further 27,000 ethnic Rakhine are also internally displaced within Rakhine State. The UK has repeatedly called on the Burmese authorities to end violence, facilitate full humanitarian access to all communities in Rakhine State, encourage return and implement the recommendations of the August 2017 Rakhine Advisory commission report. The UK is providing an additional £30 million to meet the urgent needs in both Bangladesh and Burma of those affected by the violence.