Two factual errors have been identified in a statement I made on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office during a Question for Short Debate on the Burmese Rohingya on 12 January.
At Column 2119 of Volume 777 of the Official Report I said:
‘Organisations working on the ground estimate that more than 27,000 refugees have fled to Bangladesh since October.’
However at the time of the debate a more up-to-date figure had recently been released by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, suggesting that up to 65,000 Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh since October 2016.
In addition, at Column 2120, I stated: ‘I reassure noble Lords that the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my noble Friend, Baroness Anelay of St Johns, visited Burma in November and raised our concerns directly with the Minister of Defence and the military-appointed Minister of Home Affairs.’
In fact during her visit to Burma, Baroness Anelay met the Ministers of Defence, Social Welfare, Religious and Cultural Affairs, and the Deputy Foreign Minister, though not the Minister of Home Affairs.
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