Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the conduct of the current census in Burma and the extent to which this has been affected by recent violence and rising ethnic tensions.

Reports from independent international observers of the census suggest that, with the exception of Rakhine State and parts of Kachin State, the enumeration process appears to have been largely carried out effectively. We continue to monitor the process closely. There has not been a census in Burma for 30 years, and this census will provide a vital source of data to inform better government service delivery.

We are concerned by reports of the census being used as a pretext for one incident of localised violence in Kachin State. However, we do not believe that there is a link between the census and recent violence elsewhere in Kachin. Conflict in Kachin State has been ongoing for almost three years, and the challenges of census data collection in the area reflected the continued lack of trust on the ground. We continue to support strongly government and ethnic group efforts to reach a sustainable peace, through a ceasefire and political dialogue that can help bring an end to human rights abuses in ceasefire areas.

Similarly our assessment is that recent violence in Rakhine has been caused by underlying intercommunal tensions that have previously led to violence there. We were deeply disappointed that, in the case of the Rohingya, the Burmese government contravened its long-standing assurance that all individuals would have the right to self-identify their ethnic origin in the census. We have been clear that this decision is contrary to international norms and standards on census conduct. I summoned the Burmese Ambassador to make these points.