Myanmar: Rohingya
(asked on 17th September 2020) - View Source
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to implement the proposals contained in the joint briefing by Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, Burma Campaign UK and Justice4Rohingya UK Five steps the UK can take now to start to address the Rohingya crisis, published on 17 September.
Answered by
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK, a lead donor on both sides of the border, is working hard to find solutions to the Rohingya crisis. We have convened the UN Security Council three times this year to discuss the Rohingya crisis and continue to use our UN role and bilateral engagement to push for solutions.
We support sanctions that target those responsible for human rights violations, which is why we listed the top two Myanmar generals in the Global Human Rights sanction regime in July.
The UK has publicly supported the ICJ case and provisional measures which are putting pressure on Myanmar to protect the Rohingya. We will continue to consider whether a UK legal intervention would add value to the merits of the case.
We recognise concerns about the impartiality of the Union Election Commission. We are not providing any direct financial support to the UEC, but are working through partners to promote international best practice and long-term institutional strengthening.
Supporting IDPs and refugees remains a priority and in 2019/20 we provided £30 million to support the displaced and conflict affected in Myanmar. The UK has ensured both a total and percentage increase in bilateral aid provided to IDPs and conflict affected people in Myanmar over the last three years.
We are deeply concerned about the denial of citizenship to the Rohingya, the Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific raised the issue of linking citizenship to voting rights when he spoke to the Myanmar Minister for International Cooperation in June.
The UK supports the RAC recommendation to reform the 1982 Citizenship Law and we calling on the Myanmar government, both publicly and privately, to fully implement the RAC recommendations.