Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of recent trends in the level of use of forced labour in Chin state, Burma.

The Burmese government has taken welcome steps towards the elimination of forced labour, as noted in the Resolution adopted at the UN Human Rights Council in March this year. However, we recognise that forced labour continues to be a problem in Chin State and elsewhere in Burma. We urge the government to continue its co-operation with the UN and International Labour Organisation to ensure this practice is eliminated once and for all.