Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by the Minister of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs on 10 January (HC Deb col 133WH) that in Afghanistan "minority groups such as the Hazara people face discrimination and attacks”, what action they are taking in this regard.

We continue to monitor and document discrimination and abuses against Hazaras, both through the UN and other institutions, and through our own programme work. Officials from the UK Mission to Afghanistan regularly press Taliban acting ministers and Afghan officials to protect religious and ethnic minorities, including Shia Muslims and Hazara communities. In December, I [Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon] raised attacks against Hazaras with the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.