Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to (a) the Burmese Ambassador in London and (b) his counterpart in Myanmar on steps that the Government has taken to allow for the return of Rohingya refugees to safe and dignified conditions.

Since August 2017, Ministers and senior officials have repeatedly made clear to the Government of Myanmar in Naypyidaw and its Ambassador in London that any relocation of refugees must be safe, voluntary, dignified and meet international humanitarian principles and standards. We agree with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees that the current conditions for such repatriation do not yet exist in Rakhine. There is ongoing fighting between the Myanmar military and ethnic Rakhine separatists, the Arakan Army. The UK is the second largest bilateral donor of aid in Myanmar, and the largest in Rakhine State where 600,000 Rohingya remain.