Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of reports that Christians are being forced to convert to Buddhism in the Naga self-administered zone of Myanmar; and what steps his Department is taking to help tackle religious persecution in Myanmar.

The UK Government is committed to defending freedom of religion for all in Myanmar, including in the Naga self-administered zone. We remain concerned by the Race and Religion Laws in Myanmar, which are used to discriminate against non-Buddhists, including Christians. We are deeply troubled by the increasing reports of religiously motivated violence, including the destruction of places of worship and the forced conversions of Christians to Buddhism. We provide funding to the UN's Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar and have established the Myanmar Witness programme to collect and preserve evidence of violations and abuses, including atrocities against religious minority groups.