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173761

registered interest
date	14/01/2015
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	Religious Freedom
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to reduce religious persecution across the world.
tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
uin	220807
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2015 answer text <p>Freedom of religion or belief is one of our international human rights priorities. We work actively both bilaterally and multilaterally to ensure governments protect the right of all individuals to practise their religion or belief free from persecution or discrimination. Government foreign policy on freedom of religion or belief is informed by expertise from UK civil society and Parliament, including through an Advisory Group to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister for Human Rights. We are active in the United Nations, European Union and other relevant international organisations in calling on states to promote and protect the right to freedom of religion or belief and ensure the free and equal participation of all in society. As an example of our bilateral work, the UK is currently providing Nigeria with a package of support to assist in its fight against the extremist and intolerant views of Boko Haram, whose indiscriminate attacks have caused suffering in communities of different faiths and ethnicities.</p> answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington question first answered 21/01/2015 16:54:26 answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington
tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

173764

registered interest
date	14/01/2015
answering body	Department for International Development
answering dept id	20
answering dept short name	International Development
answering dept sort name	International Development
hansard heading	Overseas Aid
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what account she takes of promoting freedom of speech when deciding on allocations of overseas aid.
tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
uin	220845
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2015 answer text <p>DFID promotes respect for human rights, including freedom of expression, through its partnerships with governments and, where necessary, raises issues of concern in collaboration with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Before providing aid to a foreign government, DFID assesses the government’s commitment to four partnership principles, one of which concerns human rights. Where we cannot provide aid directly to governments, we will find other ways to help poor people in those countries.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency New Forest West answering member printed Mr Desmond Swayne question first answered 21/01/2015 17:05:29 answering member 55 label Biography information for Sir Desmond Swayne
tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

173765

registered interest
date	14/01/2015
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	Middle East
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to promote freedom of speech in the Middle East.
tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
uin	220842
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2015 answer text 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. answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington question first answered 21/01/2015 15:32:01 answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington
tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

173766

registered interest
date	14/01/2015
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	Saudi Arabia
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to promote freedom of speech in Saudi Arabia.
tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
uin	220841
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2015 answer text <p>The UK is a strong and leading supporter of freedom of expression around the world. We continue to raise a range of human rights issues with the Saudi authorities including the right to freedom of expression. Earlier this month we raised freedom of expression at a senior level with the Saudi authorities.</p> answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 21/01/2015 16:56:18 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman