Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of warnings by the Burma Human Rights Network about plans announced on 16 January by the governments’ of Burma and Bangladesh to repatriate the Rohingya refugees who fled from Burma.

The Government has noted the report by the Burma Human Rights Network and its concerns about the repatriation of Rohingya refugees. The Government has been clear throughout the current crisis that the Rohingya refugees who have fled into Bangladesh must be able to return to their homes in Burma safely, voluntarily and in dignity, and under international monitoring.

We are carefully following the implementation of the 23 November agreement between Burma and Bangladesh. We have repeatedly used our bilateral representations to the Governments of Burma and Bangladesh to call on them to ensure the repatriation process meets the conditions set out by the UN Security Council, in the Presidential Statement we proposed and secured on 6 November. Most recently the British Ambassador to Burma pressed for agreement to involve UNHCR in the repatriation process in his meeting with the Minister for the Office of the State Counsellor on 11 January. The British High Commission in Dhaka regularly raises our concerns about premature returns with the government of Bangladesh.

The UK will continue to work with our international partners both bilaterally and multilaterally to ensure that any returns take place in line with international norms and with international monitoring.