To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 10 February 2010, Official Report, column 979W, on Burma: human rights, what discussions he has had in the United Nations Human Rights Council and the United Nations General Assembly on reports of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Burma. (319783)

In both the Human Rights Council and UN General Assembly we have consistently raised our serious concern at reports of human rights abuses in Burma. Our approach reflects the representations we have had from a number of concerned parties who report on situations they believe amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes. Our judgment is that we would not be able to secure support within the UN Security Council for the actions that would be necessary to follow up with formal charges on those grounds. However, resolutions secured with strong UK support in the UN's human rights bodies make specific reference to human rights violations by the military regime.