We welcome the policy brief by Pakistan's National Commission on the Rights of the Child on forced conversions published on 7 December. The UK Government strongly condemns the forced marriage and forced conversion of women and girls from religious minorities in Pakistan. We regularly raise our concerns on these issues with the Government of Pakistan. Most recently, I raised our human rights concerns, including Freedom of Religion or Belief, with Pakistan's Minister for Human Rights on 16 November. In addition, I raised our concerns about child, early and forced marriage and forced conversion of women and girls from minority religious communities, with Pakistan's Minister for Human Rights on 19 October.<\/p>
Through the UK's development support, we are encouraging policy reform at federal and provincial level to strengthen child protection laws in order to prevent child marriage. In addition, the UK's Strengthening Rule of Law in Pakistan programme aims to increase public confidence and trust in the Rule of Law. It focuses on delivering outputs that improve the justice system for victims, witnesses and offenders, including vulnerable women and girls.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4210", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2020-12-24", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2020-12-24T10:17:16.807Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "208"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2020-12-09", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Pakistan: Forced Marriage and Religious Freedom"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Pakistan about its publication Policy Brief by National Commission on the Rights of the Child on Forced Conversion with Recommendations after Analysis of Arzoo Case, published on 7 December; and what steps they are taking to prevent the practices analysed in the publication.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/738", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Alton of Liverpool"} ], "uin" : "HL11266"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1002245", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1002245/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
There remains an urgent need to establish exactly what happened on 2 October. The actions Britain and our allies take will depend on the credibility of the final explanation given by Saudi Arabia and on our confidence that such an appalling episode will not be repeated. We have vital national security and prosperity interests in maintaining and developing our relationship with Saudi Arabia, including how we work together to tackle regional threats.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4210", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2018-11-19", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2018-11-19T15:41:16.51Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "16"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2018-11-05", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Jamal Khashoggi"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their joint statement with France and Germany issued on 21 October condemning the killing of Jamal Khashoggi and seeking urgent clarification into the circumstances surrounding his death, whether they have discussed the possibility of the expulsion of Saudi Arabian diplomats from the UK, France and Germany.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/259", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for The Marquess of Lothian"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "The Marquess of Lothian"} ], "uin" : "HL11266"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 2, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }