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Freedom of expression has been a human rights priority for the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office, from the beginning of this Parliament; and the subject of an Expert Group
which advises Ministers. We raise press freedom regularly in multilateral fora, supporting
relevant initiatives and resolutions, and in bilateral conversations – in both private
and public. We regularly raise the importance of freedom of speech with counterparts
in government across the Middle East and North Africa. Through our Arab Partnership
Initiative, we are working to support the development of legitimate and inclusive
institutions to improve governance, enable inclusive reform and protect fundamental
freedoms such as freedom of speech. Our Arab Partnership Participation Fund has supported
the training of journalists in countries across the region, including Algeria, Tunisia,
Libya and Egypt to deliver un-biased reporting and work to protect freedom of speech.
In Iraq, we have worked to build a legal and regulatory environment in order to allow
Iraqi media to operate safely, freely and effectively.
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