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1126294

registered interest
date	13/05/2019
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Iraq: Christianity
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 5 February (HL13010), what assessment they have made of the report by the Institute of Development Studies The Persecution of Christians in the Middle East, published in 2017, that estimates that in 2003 there were approximately 1.5 million Christians in Iraq, and that in 2017 that number was between 200,000 and 250,000.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL15654
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/05/2019 answer text <p>While we are unable to confirm the exact numbers, we are gravely concerned about the decline in the numbers of Christians in Iraq in recent years as also cited in the independent interim report of the Bishop of Truro into the Persecution of Christians. We assess that a number of factors have resulted in this decline, including conflict and insecurity in Iraq and the particular threat posed by Daesh. We continue to engage with the Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government on the need to protect the rights of Christians and other religious minorities. However, during a recent meeting with the Iraqi Foreign Minister on the 17 May and the Archbishop of Erbil on 21 May I heard of the steps being taken to reopen churches and the increased number of church services being help in Iraq.</p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 22/05/2019 12:01:07 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

1126297

registered interest
date	13/05/2019
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Pakistan: Blasphemy
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case of the Pakistani Christian woman, Shagufta Kauser, who, with her disabled husband, Shafqat Emmanuel, was sentenced to death in 2014, for allegedly sending blasphemous text messages, including reports that the couple are illiterate and that the messages were in English; and what representations they have made to the government of Pakistan about this case.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL15657
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/05/2019 answer text <p>​We are aware and are monitoring the case of Shagufta Kausar and her husband Shafqat Emmanuel. We remain deeply concerned about reports of discrimination against the Christian community and other religious minorities in Pakistan. We regularly raise our concerns about the misuse of the blasphemy laws with the government of Pakistan at a senior level.</p><p>I raised our concerns about Freedom of Religion or Belief and the protection of minority religious communities with Pakistan's Federal Minister for Human Rights, Dr Shireen Mazari, during my visit to Islamabad in February. The UK raised concerns about Freedom of Religion or Belief at Pakistan's UN Universal Periodic Review of human rights in November 2017. We urged Pakistan to strengthen the protection of minorities, including by establishing an independent National Commission for Minorities from all faith communities.</p><p>The UK remains firmly opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances. We have repeatedly called upon the Government of Pakistan to end capital punishment and, at a minimum, commit to publicly renewing the previously imposed moratorium on the death penalty.</p><p>We will continue to urge the Government of Pakistan to guarantee fully the rights of all Pakistani citizens, including religious minorities, and to honour its international obligations.</p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 22/05/2019 13:27:26 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool