Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of supporting the referral of Myanmar to the International Criminal Court in the context of reports of atrocities committed by the Myanmar military over the last 12 months.

The UK is clear that there must be accountability for atrocities committed in Myanmar. We condemn the ongoing serious human rights violations by the Myanmar Armed Forces. We will continue to raise these issues on the international stage, including at the UN Security Council. We have also established the Myanmar Witness programme to collect and verify evidence of serious human rights violations and abuses. This evidence could be used in any future legal proceedings.

Our assessment remains that there is insufficient support amongst Security Council members for an International Criminal Court (ICC) referral at this time. It will not advance the cause of accountability for an ICC referral to fail to win Security Council support or to be vetoed; such a result would only give comfort to the Myanmar Armed Forces and reduce the pressure they currently face.