Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that the Myanmar Government is not using bureaucratic processes to block access of international non-governmental organisations and UN agencies to Central Rakhine state.

DFID and FCO officials continue to lobby for access to Rakhine at the highest levels of the Burma Government. We are closely monitoring impediments to humanitarian assistance in central Rakhine, where access to food and markets is severely limited for those in camp locations, and it is very difficult for international staff to move around. It is critical that protection, health and emergency referral services resume as quickly as possible.

On 12 October, Burma State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi announced the Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine (UE). We are pushing to get relief into Rakhine, safe and voluntary return of refugees and implementation of the Rakhine Advisory Commission’s recommendations. While the UE may be a practical mechanism to meet some needs, we continue to work with other development partners in Burma to press for international agencies to be allowed to work alongside it to provide the full range of humanitarian assistance and support that will be required. The UK has now raised Burma three times at the UN Security Council and we continue to press the government of Burma through all channels to allow immediate and full humanitarian access and support for the people and communities affected.