PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Burma: Political Prisoners (7 July 2015)

We welcome the release of thousands of political prisoners under the current Burmese government. However, we remain concerned by the continued arrests, detentions and sentencing of political activists, with an estimated minimum of 150 remaining behind bars at the end of May 2015, and a further 450 awaiting trial following arrests throughout 2014 and early 2015.

Officials from our Embassy in Rangoon meet regularly with civil society on this issue, and we continue to raise our concerns with the government of Burma at the highest levels. Most recently, the then Minister of State at the Home Office, Lynne Featherstone, raised this issue directly with Minister for the President’s Office, U Soe Thein, during her visit to Burma in January. We continue to lobby on individual cases. We also raise our concerns publicly in our Annual Report on Human Rights and in multilateral fora such as the UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Council, where the UK co-sponsored a Resolution in March that called for the unconditional release of all political prisoners.