Asia Pacific

This Commons Briefing Paper on the Ivory Bill covers the Government proposal to ban the commercial use of elephant ivory, with some exceptions. It also include background information on the ivory trade, its impact on wild elephant populations and international efforts to address this. The Bill has its Report Stage in the House of Commons on 4 July 2018.

This Commons Library paper provides a short look ahead to the next NATO summit on 11-12 July. MPs will debate NATO on 20 June 2018.

With the drive for new trading opportunities for the UK, relations with Commonwealth countries such as New Zealand are increasingly in the spotlight.

A debate on ‘Early elections, human rights and the political situation in Turkey’ has been scheduled for Thursday 7 June 2018 in the Main Chamber. The debate was nominated by the Backbench Business Committee after a representation from Joan Ryan MP, Tommy Sheppard MP and Jim Shannon MP.

In an 'unprecedented' move, the UK is sending three warships to Asia-Pacific in 2018, the first time in five years that a Royal Navy warship has travelled to the Far East.

Will they or won't they? As the summit date approaches we examine what could be in store for USA and DPRK relations

A debate on the ‘International Day against homophobia, transphobia and biphobia’ has been scheduled for Thursday 17 May 2018 in the Main Chamber. The debate has been nominated by the Backbench Business Committee after a representation from Peter Kyle MP and Angela Eagle MP.

A Westminster Hall debate on petitions relating to Burma's Rohingya minority is scheduled for Monday 16 April 2018, from 4:30-7:30pm. The motion for debate is: "That this House has considered e-petitions 200224 and 200371, and public petitions P002061, P002064, P002078 and P002104, relating to Myanmar’s Rohingya minority". The subject for this debate was determined by the Petitions Committee and Helen Jones MP, Chair of the Petitions Committee, will open the debate.

National elections are due to be held in Pakistan in mid-2018. It will inevitably be a testing year for the country’s still-fragile democracy.

Many hoped that the November 2015 general election would be a tipping-point in Burma’s ‘democratic transition’, which began in 2011. The new National League for Democracy government took office in April 2016 in an atmosphere of hope – but the honeymoon has turned out to be brief. The limits of Aung San Suu Kyi's power have been exposed by her inability to control the actions of the security forces in Rakhine State, where they stand accused of committing serious human rights abuses against the Muslim Rohingya. Her international reputation has been damaged and there is now talk of reintroducing sanctions.

This note provides a brief background to the protracted, but all but forgotten conflict in Balochistan, a marginalised but resource-rich and strategically important province of Pakistan.

This Debate Pack has been prepared for the debate on the 'Rohingya crisis', to be held in Westminster Hall on Tuesday 28 November 2017, from 2:30-4:00pm, initiated by Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods MP.

Elections are due within a year or so in Bangladesh. The main political parties continue to be at loggerheads. Some detect a growing authoritarianism and there are concerns about the threat from terrorism. In recent months the country has also faced a massive refugee influx of Muslim Rohingya from Burma.