Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to improve the UK's diplomatic response following sexually violent incidents resulting from the current, ongoing Rohingya crisis.

The Government has been clear in it's condemnation of the terrible atrocities that have occurred in Rakhine State and has now raised Burma five times at the UN Security Council. The Burmese authorities must heed the call of the UN Security Council to make Rakhine safe for refugee returns and ensure accountability for human rights violations. We have made clear to the governments of Burma and Bangladesh that any returns must have international oversight.

As one of the largest bilateral donors to Bangladesh, UK aid is helping to provide psychological support to over 10,000 women suffering from the trauma of war and over 2,000 survivors of sexual violence. We are supporting the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to operate five mobile medical teams and five health posts for sexual violence survivors, and we are supporting UNICEF protection initiatives including 30 Child Friendly Spaces.

Following the deployment of civilian experts last November we are now working to reduce any further risks of gender based violence and to create a safer environment for women and girls in the camps. We are also working to determine how the PSVI Team of Experts can best support the gathering of evidence of sexual violence for future accountability purposes.