Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what plans his Department has to respond to recent reports of the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya people in Rakhine State, Myanmar.

The British Government continues to discuss the situation in Rakhine with the Government of Burma. On 7 September, the Foreign Secretary called State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi to raise our strong concerns about Rakhine. They agreed any human rights abuses or violations must be investigated urgently. Our Ambassador continues to engage with officials from the Burmese Foreign Ministry on the full range of challenges facing Rakhine State.

On 30 August the UK convened a discussion on Burma at the UN Security Council. The UK urged the security forces in Rakhine to show restraint and called for all parties to de-escalate tensions. The Foreign Secretary released a statement on 2 September calling for an end to the violence. Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon made a statement at the 36th session of the Human Rights Council on 11 September which made clear that the UK strongly condemned the violence, and called on all parties to de-escalate tensions and address the humanitarian crisis.