Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations the Government has made to the UN on the need for UN security for the protection of the repatriated Rohingya people.

The UNHCR holds the expertise on refugee returns which is why the government has repeatedly called for their involvement in both Bangladesh and Burma. We have discussed this directly with the UNHCR, most recently on 12 January in a meeting between FCO-DFID Minister Alastair Burt and the High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi. We have also raised it in the UN Security Council, through the Presidential Statement on 6 November and in our intervention during the 12 December Council session. The UK has always been clear that refugee returns must be safe, voluntary and dignified. In our view guaranteed safety for the Rohingya once they are in northern Rakhine requires independent international oversight of the returns process.