Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Burmese government on their treatment of the Rohingya.

We have raised the treatment of the Rohingya in every one of our recent Ministerial contacts with the Burmese government.

The former Foreign Secretary, my Right Hon. Friend the member for Richmond (Yorks) ( Mr Hague), raised the situation in Rakhine State in a call with his Burmese counterpart, U Wunna Maung Lwin, in April. He called for the Burmese government to facilitate humanitarian assistance to all communities in the State. I also raised this issue with Khin Maung Soe, Burmese Minister for Electric Power in July, as well as with the Burmese Ambassador, whom I summoned in April to register my concerns. More recently, Minister of State for International Development, Mr Desmond Swayne, discussed Rakhine with Minister for the President’s Office, U Soe Thein in August.

Our Ambassador and Embassy officials consistently discuss these concerns with representatives of the Burmese government.