Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic steps his Department is taking to help prevent (a) human rights abuses and (b) the detention of religious and ethnic minority individuals in Myanmar.

We are aware of the vulnerability of religious minorities in Myanmar, particularly in Chin, Kayah, Karen, Kachin and Rakhine states, and we condemn identity-based violence on any ground. The UK has co-sponsored a number of UN Human Rights Council resolutions on Myanmar, most recently in April, which stressed the need to address the root causes of human rights violations and abuses against persons belonging to ethnic and religious minorities. In December 2022, the UN Security Council passed the first ever resolution on the situation in Myanmar, led by the UK. The Resolution demands an end to violence, stresses the need for the protection of minority groups and calls for the immediate release for all those arbitrarily detained.