Bangladesh, Burma and the Rohingya crisis 13 The situation is that there have been very few obvious consequences: no constitutional change despite promises; sanctions have not been re-imposed except on a small number of officers and Min Aung Hlaing, head of the Burmese military, is not receiving invitations to relevant events from the EU; development aid still flows in; the army seems to be more popular if anything; and Burmese military spending has risen markedly.19 20. DFID said: DFID Burma is a challenging friend to the civilian Government, supporting policy development (such as in health and education) where it will help benefit the poor, but challenging where needed.20 However, as a challenging friend it is of interest to understand whether we are actually being listened to and our opinions considered. The Minister told us: it is the view of the British Government that [Aung San Suu Kyi] needs to speak out against the atrocities that the military has perpetrated in Rakhine. There is more she could do to ensure the civilian Government act in ways that would address the situation, including allowing humanitarian access, setting out a pathway to citizenship for the Rohingya, setting out a clearer vision for the conditions under which refugees would be treated on return, addressing constraints on freedom of movement for the Rohingya and ensuring media freedom is protected.21 But there has been no observable response so far. The one achievement the Minister could point to of UK’s challenging friendship was the setting up of the advisory board, by Aung San Suu Kyi on 22 January. He told us: I do not think something like that would be happening if it had not been for diplomatic efforts and diplomatic determination. Is it where we want it to be? Is Burma where we want it to be? No, but if we did not press our points, stand up for what we believe and continue to take that message, it would be so much the worse.22 However, this same advisory board, as highlighted in our January report, was referred to by one of its own members as “a whitewash”.23 21. DFID said: DFID Burma is currently reviewing its entire portfolio in response to recent events. The 2016–2020 Business Plan Strategic Objectives remain valid, but we are submitting advice to Ministers to suggest revised approaches for achieving them: the UK still aims to achieve poverty reduction and support peace and inclusion in Burma; the most effective means to do this will be to continue to support an emerging democracy.24 19 20 21 22 23 24 Burma Campaign UK (DBB027) Department for International Development (DBB016) Q212 Q207 Exclusive: Richardson quits Myanmar’s ‘whitewash’ Rohingya crisis panel, Reuters 24 January 2018 Department for International Development (DBB016)