Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he discussed women's rights with representatives of the Roghinya community on his recent visit to Burma.

When the Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson), visited Burma in January he raised a number of human rights concerns with both the civilian and military authorities. Specifically he called for a restrained security response in Rakhine State, for immediate humanitarian access there and for an end to discrimination against the Rohingya. He also called for a de-escalation of conflict in Kachin and Shan States, as well as for full humanitarian access. He did not specifically raise women's rights.

Protecting women's rights was, however, the explicit focus of the visit of the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my noble Friend, the Rt Hon. the Baroness of Anelay of St Johns, who visited Burma in November in her capacity as the Prime Minister's Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict. She used her visit to press the Minister of Defence on the importance of the army handling allegations of sexual violence against women in a thorough and transparent manner. She lobbied senior Ministers for a full and independent investigation into reports of human rights violations. During her visit the Minister heard direct from Rohingya leaders about the plight faced by their community in Rakhine State including a range of human rights violations. She also hosted a workshop in which she met survivors of sexual violence and practitioners engaged in efforts to prevent conflict-related sexual violence.