Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of reports of the conscription of Rohingya boys as child soldiers by the government of Myanmar.

We are concerned by credible reports of forcible detention and recruitment of the Rohingya, following the Myanmar military regime's conscription announcement. This has the potential to further stoke inter-communal tensions. On 4 April, the UK convened the UN Security Council to raise concern over the escalating conflict in Rakhine State. We are committed to supporting children in Myanmar and we continue to raise our concerns over the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict in international fora, including through our co-sponsorship of a UN Human Rights Council resolution on Myanmar in April.