Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she has had with the Myanmar Government on allowing access for humanitarian workers and aid to Rakhine State.

I am appalled by the ethnic cleansing and persecution of the Rohingya, including reports of the Burmese military and local militia forcing hundreds of thousands of men, women and children from their homes and villages being burnt. The relentless denial of aid is a matter of life and death for those still in northern Rakhine. I have repeatedly called on the Burmese authorities to stop the violence in Rakhine state, and to allow full and unfettered humanitarian access to provide a lifeline to all those living in Rakhine State. Government officials continue to raise this at the highest levels with the Burmese Government.