Press release: Foreign Secretary statement to media on his visit to Burma

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has today (20 September) completed a two day visit to Burma which included talks with State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and a tour of northern Rakhine, the area where thousands of Rohingya have fled.

Speaking to media, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said:

Burma is a country that has made some important steps towards democracy in the last few years, holding their first democratic elections three years ago. Although they are not fully democratic they have been moving in the right direction.

On the Rohingya crisis, the Foreign Secretary said:

I went to Rakhine State myself to see what had happened. What is essential now is that the perpetrators of any atrocities are brought to justice, because without that there can be no solution to the huge refugee problem. We will use all the tools at our disposal to try and make sure there is accountability.

I’ll be going to New York next week for the United Nations General Assembly to discuss what we should do. Britain can’t act alone. We need to act in concert with other countries – we are a believer in the international rules based order. It’s incredible important for all of us that those perpetrators face justice.

On the first day of his visit, Foreign Secretary Hunt met human rights defenders from the Association for the Assistance of Political Prisoners and toured the Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon.

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