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<p>The UK deplores the treatment of the Rohingya community in Rakhine State, who are
subject to persecution and denied the most basic rights. We welcome the work of the
highly effective UN Special Rapporteur on Burma, who has shone a spotlight on violations
against the Rohingya in Rakhine. She has not characterised the treatment of the Rohingya
as genocide, and neither did the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide
in his 4 November statement on Burma’s elections. However, any judgement on whether
genocide has occurred is a matter for international judicial decision, rather than
for governments or non-judicial bodies. A UN investigation would require high level
international support for which, we assess, there is little prospect of agreement
at this stage. Our approach is to seek an end to all violations, irrespective of whether
or not they fit the definition of specific international crimes. I and other British
Government Ministers take every appropriate opportunity, both publicly and in private,
to press the Burmese authorities to take urgent steps to address the situation of
the Rohingya. I did this with senior Burmese Ministers during my visit to Burma in
July, when I travelled to Rakhine State for the second time. Most recently, I raised
the issue with the Burmese Foreign Minister, Wunna Maung Lwin, in September in New
York. After the 8 November elections, the UK will continue our efforts to address
the serious ongoing human rights violations against the Rohingya in Rakhine State.</p>
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