Burma: Rohingya

(asked on 24th April 2019) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that Rohingyan refugees are not repatriated to Burma against their will.


Answered by
 Portrait
Mark Field
This question was answered on 2nd May 2019

​The UK has been clear, as has the UN Security Council, that Burma must create the conditions in Rakhine to allow the Rohingya to return safely, voluntarily and with dignity. We agree with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees that these conditions do not yet exist. UN agencies also do not have the access they need to provide independent monitoring of any returns. The UK was deeply concerned when Bangladesh and Burma announced that the repatriation of refugees to Burma would begin in November 2018. We raised our concerns at the highest levels with both Governments, stressing that returns should not commence while conditions in northern Rakhine remain as they are. We welcome Bangladesh's commitment to the principle of "voluntariness" and were pleased that repatriations did not commence in November 2018. We will continue to make representations to the Governments of both Bangladesh and Burma not to commence returns until suitable conditions exist in northern Rakhine.

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