Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to tackle religious persecution of the Rohingya.

The British Government continues to be deeply concerned by religious persecution and violence against Rohingya in Burma. The Minister for the Commonwealth and the United Nations reiterated the UK's concerns about the persecution faced by Rohingya when he chaired a meeting of the UN Security Council on 28 August. I called for the Burmese Government to take steps to create the conditions needed in Rakhine State for Rohingya to return in my meeting with the Burmese Ambassador on 11 July and in a call with the Burmese Minister for International Co-operation on 17 August. The British Embassy continues to support projects in Burma addressing the drivers of prejudice and inter-communal violence.