Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with his Burmese counterpart on the Rohingya in Burma forming a political party in that country.

Our Embassy in Rangoon have raised our strong concerns. We were disappointed about the recent passing of legislation by the Burmese Parliament that will deny holders of temporary registration cards the ability to form and join political parties. This affects a majority of the Rohingya and some 400,000 members of other minorities. We are also particularly concerned by an expected draft Bill that would deny these individuals the right to vote in next year’s elections.

British Ministers and officials continue to raise our wider concerns about the treatment of the Rohingya with Burmese counterparts. I did so in October with the Minister of Immigration and the new chief Minister of Rakhine State.