Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Myanmar Government on allowing access for human rights observers to Rakhine State.

The UK co-sponsored the resolution at the UN Human Rights Council in March this year which set up a Fact Finding Mission to look into the human rights situation in Burma, following the events in Rakhine State in October 2016. At the Human Rights Council in Geneva in September, the UK took part in an Interactive Dialogue with the Fact Finding Mission and supported the resolution to extend the mandate of the Mission to include the deteriation since 25 August in Rahkine. We continue to urge the Government of Burma, and in particular the military, to cooperate with the UN Fact Finding Mission and its mandate and to enable access for the Mission to Rakhine State.