Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking on as penholder on Burma in the UN Security Council to pursue sanctions on senior military figures and businesses in Burma.

Both the EU and US have arms embargoes in place on Burma. The UK has suspended Burmese military visits and defence education cooperation.

We are discussing with partners further options for UN Security Council action on Rakhine, following the UN Secretary-General's 12 December report to the Council. We are also assessing, with EU partners, whether targeted EU sanctions against individual senior military officers would be effective in changing the behaviour of the Burmese military. We assess there is at present insufficient support amongst UN Security Council permnanent members for a global arms embargo or UN sanctions, but this is under constant review.