Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they made to UN agencies and Rohingya representatives before and after refoulement plans to return the Rohinga refugees from Burma to Bangladesh were agreed.

The bilateral agreement reached by Burma and Bangladesh on 23 November recognised the need for the returns it governs to be safe, voluntary and in dignity. The UK has called upon both governments to ensure that this agreement is properly implemented so that returns are voluntary and refoulement does not occur. We have been clear that the conditions in Rakhine are not yet ready for returns to commence.

The Minister for Asia and the Pacific raised this with Bangladesh's High Commissioner on 9 January, and the British Ambassador to Burma raised it in his meeting with Minister for the Office of State Counsellor on 11 January. The UK has underlined the importance of voluntary returns at the UN Security Council, through the Presidential Statement we proposed and secured on 6 November and in our intervention during the 12 December Council session. The Minister for the Middle East raised the issue in his meeting with the High Commissioner for Refugees on 12 January, and is encouraging the UNHCR to develop a systematic process for consultation with Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.