Gender Specific Religious Persecution

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Thursday 17th March 2022 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered gender specific religious persecution.

It is always a pleasure to speak in Westminster Hall, and I am very pleased to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Rees. We often seem to be in these two roles in such debates; you as the chairperson and me as a participant. I am also very pleased to see the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Luton North (Sarah Owen), in her place. I am not sure whether this is the first time that we have been in this type of debate together. It is always a pleasure to see the Minister in his place, because he understands these issues. We are always assured that he will positively and helpfully deliver the response that we seek.

I am always mindful that Thursday afternoon is sometimes what we refer to as the graveyard shift. The fact is that from Tuesday there has not been the same level of whipping, which indicates that many people are away. It does not lessen the importance of the issue. We had sought to have the debate earlier to tie in with International Women’s Day, but the opportunity did not arise.

I am very pleased to see my two colleagues and dear friends, the hon. Member for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow (Dr Cameron), who is the spokesperson for the Scottish National party, and the hon. Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce), who is the Prime Minister’s special envoy for freedom of religion or belief. We know the great work that she does. We say that because it is true, not for any other reason. She works energetically on these issues and we are very pleased that she is in that post. The hon. Member for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow and I requested the debate jointly, so we are particularly pleased to be able to speak in it. I thank her for her continued advocacy for vulnerable women and girls around the world.

The debate is incredibly timely. Earlier this month was International Women’s Day, which offers time to take stock of how far we have advanced the rights of women; all of us in the House are committed to that goal. It is also an opportunity to reflect on the advances that need to be made—where we have got to and where we need to be. Sadly, the strides that we need to take to ensure freedom of religion or belief for women and girls are significant. There is a lot more to do, as others will illustrate when they have an opportunity to express themselves. It is a time to look back at what has been achieved and to look forward to what we want to achieve.

Although violations of freedom of religion or belief can affect any member of a minority religious community, religious persecution is not gender blind. Women and girls from communities suffering from persecution based on religion or belief face a double vulnerability: not only are they at greater risk of freedom of religion or belief abuses, but those abuses often have a greater impact on the lives of women and girls than on men. Everyone present will be aware of the Christian advocacy organisation Open Doors, which describes how gender specific religious persecution is hidden, violent and complex. Unfortunately, it is too often ignored by policy makers, non-governmental organisations and local authorities.

I will give a couple of examples; unfortunately, they are sometimes hard to listen to because of the graphic detail, even without getting into all the things that have happened, but these are the experiences of young girls. The first case is that of Meera Bhat, a 14-year-old Hindu girl from Mirpur Khas, Pakistan, who just a few days ago was abducted and forced to marry her abductor and to convert from Hinduism. Just this week, we had a chance to meet some Hindu representatives and to discuss some of the things that are happening to them. We in the all-party parliamentary group on international freedom of religion or belief intend to take those matters forward. There will be further engagement between us and them, and we will collectively try to act on what is happening to some Hindus in Bangladesh, in particular—that young girl, Meera, however, is from Pakistan.

Meera was abducted, forcibly married and forced to change her religion. When any child is abducted, there should be outrage, but in this case, there did not seem to be. To say that she was forcibly married is to put it politely; in reality, this 14-year-old girl was brutally raped. Do we hear about such abuse of power, abuse of religion and abuse of human dignity in the news? No, we do not. That is why this debate is so important and why the three Members present—the hon. Members for Congleton and for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow, and I—as well as the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Luton North, and the Minister, have a duty to respond to, highlight and deal with these issues.

All too often, these cases are flagrantly ignored by the international media, just as they are by the local authorities where the crimes take place. A culture of impunity seems to prevail. The recent report from Aid to the Church in Need, “Hear Her Cries”, found that up to 1,000 Christian and Hindu girls are abducted in Pakistan each year, many of whom are forcibly converted and “married”. I say “married”, with inverted commas, because it is certainly not a marriage that is agreed to and certainly not when that person is an underage girl. To make matters worse, that number is likely to be a conservative estimate, so it could be even more than 1,000, which greatly worries us.

Very few of these girls’ names ever make it out of Pakistan, although we might hear of it through the APPG, as will the special envoy, the hon. Member for Congleton. For us, it is incredibly difficult to hear of the grief, pain and agony of vulnerable young girls and parents unable to respond. Early reports in Meera Bhat’s case state that when her parents approached a judge, he sided with Meera’s abductor, because he had recorded a video of her renouncing her faith. That was under duress, but if the courts are sympathetic to the case, they seem to turn a blind eye to some of the things that happen.

Much of Meera’s case is uncertain and we do not know what the future holds for her. However, her parents are worried for her, as we in this House are, and I am putting the case forward for wee Meera Bhat. All too often, confessions such as Meera’s are manipulated, coerced or forced; those involved are abused, sometimes violently. At the end of the day, she is a 14-year-old girl, taken from her home and family, and violently and repeatedly abused.

To highlight the importance of responding to such cases, I will also draw the attention of the Minister and all Members present to the abduction of Farah Shaheen, a 14-year-old Christian girl whose abduction shares many similarities with Meera’s. Farah was kidnapped from Faisalabad on 25 June 2020 at the age of 12. That is hard to take in, particularly for me, as a grandfather—my oldest grandchild is a wee girl of 12—when I look at the innocence of Katie and think of the 12-year-old girl in Pakistan who was abducted, kidnapped, and abused. How would I feel, as a grandfather, a parent, or as one of the family members? Farah was forcibly married—which basically means that she was raped—and forced to convert to Islam.

During months of sexual enslavement, she was shackled and forced to work long hours cleaning animal dung in the yard of her abductor, a man named Khizar Ahmad Ali. Farah stated:

“I was chained most of the time...It was terrible. They put chains on my ankles”—

on a wee 12-year-old—

“and tied me with a rope.”

She tried to cut the rope and escape. She tried to get the chains off, but could not manage it. She prayed every night, as a Christian girl would do, asking God to help her—a desperate plea, a plea for help, when there is a society that seems to think that Hindus and Christian girls do not have rights, but they do.

Her father, Asif Masih, highlighted the impact that this time had on his daughter, saying:

“Farah has told me she was treated as a slave…She was forced to work all day, cleaning filth in a cattle yard. They repeatedly raped my daughter.”

Her father must have been beside himself with anxiety and concern. He continued:

“She was in trauma after being subjected to physical and medical torture.”

Eventually—thank goodness—on 16 February 2021, after a lengthy court process, Faisalabad district and sessions court ruled that her marriage was unlawful on the grounds that she had not been registered properly. She was allowed to go home, at long last, but the abuse, kidnapping and physical torture had all taken place.

This case illustrates how authorities often turn a blind eye to gender specific persecution. After Farah’s abduction, it took the police three months to even file a first information report, which starts off any police investigation in Pakistan. It was three months before they even got off their chairs to do something, while Farah’s parents and family were desperate to know what was going on. The investigation was dropped, with no action taken against the three men who were involved in Farah’s kidnapping and abduction. Even the eventual court ruling was a civil matter rather than a legal one. Where is the legal support in Pakistan for young Hindu and Christian girls? It does not appear to be available.

Despite the horrors that Farah endured, her abductors were let off with absolute impunity, which I find incredibly difficult to take. If I feel like that not as a family member but as a concerned person and Member of Parliament who wishes to raise these issues, how much more did her parents feel that? Not only was Farah denied justice for the atrocities committed against her but the groundwork was laid for further abductions, because others will say, “They got off. We can do the same, because ultimately we can get away with it,” and the evil men who consider such cruelty know they will not face repercussions.

I should have declared an interest at the beginning of the debate, Ms Rees, and I apologise for not doing so. I am very pleased and privileged to chair the all-party groups on international freedom of religion or belief and on the Pakistani minorities; indeed, it is humbling to do so.

I remind the House that these are not isolated issues, but two cases of 1,000 girls such as Farah and Meera who endured this abuse in Pakistan last year. As I said, I think that is just the tip of the iceberg. Unfortunately, such tragedies are not unique to Pakistan. Open Doors reports that of the top 50 countries featured in the world watch list for 2022—it was just released in January; the right hon. Member for Chipping Barnet (Theresa Villiers) sponsors it every year—88% cited the forced marriage of women and girls as a form of religious persecution. Tellingly, no country reported its use against men, because, more often than not, it is men who abuse young women and young girls.

In Afghanistan, the rights of women are severely limited because of the Taliban’s extreme interpretation of sharia law. However, some women experience further challenges, especially those belonging to religious or belief minorities. Men may suffer from verbal and physical abuse in public places due to their external identity—perhaps because of a turban or a beard—but women also fear abuse, and women and girls from minority religions remove themselves from the male gaze or keep themselves under the radar, either by remaining indoors or covering themselves entirely in a burqa when they are in public. It is also no secret that women suffer sexual violence. As we see so often with sexual violence in today’s world, men seem to think they can do what they want. We need to have strict, hard laws to make sure that they know they cannot.

The nature of religious dress for women of some religions leads to them facing greater difficulty in exercising their right to freedom of religion or belief. At least 11 states in Europe, Africa and south Asia impose public restrictions or bans on Muslim head coverings, despite the fact that some women regard them as an integral part of their faith or identity. It is about protection and what their religion tells them to do. Women may also feel under great pressure to conceal or perhaps underplay their religious identity to make themselves less identifiable as belonging to a religious group or being more moderate in their outlook.

Religious dress may seem a trivial form of infringement on freedom of religion or belief, but wherever violations of that nature take place, grave examples of forced marriage and sexual exploitation are not far behind. Forced marriage, and the sexual exploitation of women and girls, is a tactic to stem the growth of religious minority communities and is under-reported and under-recognised, despite its enormous scale. In 2020, at the peak of the covid-19 outbreak around the world, Open Doors reported that the No. 1 pressure point for women was forced marriage. When people say, “I do,” it is a commitment by both parties, but in the cases that we are discussing here, there is no choice for the young girl at all, regardless of whether she is a Hindu or Christian. It seems that the law of the land in Pakistan and other countries is biased towards the male part of the marriage.

Forced marriages, and the weaponisation of sexual violence, is a tactic that devastates religious minority communities. Children born of forced marriages and forced conversions are often made to take on the religious identity of their perpetrator, and they are left with a legal religious identity that is difficult or even impossible to change. Sadly, in many cases around the world, survivors of rape and sexual violence face ostracisation from their community, often leaving such women either unable to marry and have children or forced to leave the community and be cut off from support networks. Heartbreakingly, in some cases that has resulted in survivors returning to their abusers, as there is no safe place for them to go. How sad it is that they have to go back to an abusive relationship because no one else will take them—none of their family members will reach out, and no one in society will say, “Can we help this young girl and make life better for her?”

The tactic is seen in many countries, but perhaps the starkest recent example—it is still fresh in my mind and those of hon. Members—is the 2014 atrocities committed by Daesh against religious minorities, including Yazidis and Christians. When I think about the brutality that we witnessed, I have an ache in my heart for the Yazidi women and young girls who were abducted and have never been seen again. Daesh specifically targeted religious minority women and girls through the use of abduction, exploitation, rape, sexual violence and forced marriage in an attempt to annihilate religious diversity and establish its caliphate. Many of the women and girls abducted by Daesh in northern Iraq in 2014 are still missing, and one of my requests to the Minister is to find out what has happened to those 2,763 Yazidi women and children. Unfortunately, no real effort has been made to locate them or to ensure that they have been rescued and reunited with their families, despite the collapse of the Daesh caliphate in 2019.

According to survivors, girls abducted by Daesh fighters were trafficked to Syria and then to Iran by Iranian soldiers. What can we do to help? How can we make inquiries or carry out investigations to see whether we can return the Yazidi women and girls to their families and reunite them with those who love and miss them? If it is true that Yazidi girls were trafficked abroad, they could now be in a range of possible countries—perhaps a dozen countries or more. I am grateful to Lord Alton of Liverpool for calling on the UK Government to investigate the situation and engage in a dialogue with the Iranian Government to clarify the issue and to ensure the safe return of the Yazidi girls, if they have indeed been trafficked to Iran.

I welcome the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and others. I put on record my thanks to the Minister, the Secretary of State and all the civil servants who worked industriously hard behind the scenes. Sometimes things do not happen at the speed we would wish, but we are greatly encouraged by the release of Nazanin. We saw on TV this morning her reunion with her husband and daughter, with all the family. We must put on record our thanks to her husband for his perseverance in highlighting this issue through hunger strike. We also thank the Government for working in the background. I saw the Minister speaking about it on TV this morning. The deal is a confidential deal, and we understand that, but we have got her home, and there has been great rejoice.

We are still waiting for answers on the Yazidi girls in Iran. Other states must follow suit and engage the Iranian Government in seeking the truth about the whereabouts of the Yazidi women and girls. The Yazidi girls and others like them need to be reunited with their families. I remember meeting some of them here in the House back in 2015, I think, and their stories were hard to comprehend—the violence, cruelty and complete disregard for their rights. They were abused physically and emotionally.

States must do much more to ensure the safe return of trafficked women and girls. International organisations need to support and guide states through this process or, indeed, accommodate it. It is imperative that women and girls who have endured horrific abuse are found, rescued, and allowed to go home. There will be rejoicing when the 2,763 Yazidi women and girls are returned home, reunited with their family and able to have the joy of the life they once had, if possible.

The vast majority of Daesh fighters are only prosecuted for terrorism-related offences. They need to be charged with more. It is important that we seek justice for these women. Daesh fighters must be prosecuted for their other crimes, which include murder, kidnapping, forced marriage, trafficking and other forms of sexual violence. That was one of the recommendations of the 2019 Truro review, which our Government have pledged to enact in full. Unfortunately, we have not seen much of that yet. Perhaps the Minister can give us an indication of where we are with that. It is important that the review’s recommendations are delivered.

In many parts of the world, the acts constituting human trafficking, and the subsequent enslavement and abuse, are not investigated and prosecuted. In cases where domestic courts are not equipped to prosecute, the international community needs to come together to ensure that courts can fulfil their legal duties, even if that means resorting to the establishment of international tribunals. I believe that if something is necessary, we should do it. We all share in the duty to deliver justice for these women.

Last year the UN found that ISIS committed genocide against the Yazidis, including through the abduction, forced marriage and conversion of Yazidi women and girls. In November 2021 a German court found that Taha al-Jumailly was guilty of crimes against humanity and genocide, citing the abduction and killing of a five-year-old girl. I have five grandchildren: three girls and two boys. How could anybody do that to a young girl? The court also cited the forced trafficking of her mother. They killed her child and then sold her into slavery. These crimes do not bear thinking about, but we must highlight the issue. Sadly, we too often do not. Today we have the opportunity.

Let us not deceive ourselves into thinking this is a matter for countries to deal with internally. The UK has an obligation under the convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide to prevent such crimes from escalating. The Truro review recommends that Her Majesty’s Government seeks to prosecute Daesh members not only as terrorists but as perpetrators of sex crimes against Yazidi and Christian women. This has not been done. I encourage the Minister and my Government to address this before the report’s third-year review this summer, which is only a few months away.

I welcome the commitments that Her Majesty’s Government have made to promote gender equality and address discrimination around the world, including the Foreign Secretary’s announcement of the creation of a summit focusing on preventing sexual violence against women. We welcome that really significant step, as well as the proposal to build a new consensus on viewing sexual violence in conflict as a red line. The more we become aware of it, the more we want to stop it. I cannot stop it myself—none of us can individually —but our Minister and our Government can take steps to make it happen.

More needs to be done. Victims of gender specific religious persecution are so often overlooked, and I am sorry to say that the compounding elements of religion and gender are too often ignored by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. I urge Her Majesty’s Government to make defending women and girls in religious minorities a core value that should encompass all areas of foreign affairs, including our trade policy. We should ensure that all new trade agreements—indeed, all existing trade agreements—include human rights provisions that consider any religious or belief-based persecution and its gender components.

We need to ensure that UK overseas aid and development programmes include safeguards to recognise the signs of gender specific religious or belief-based persecution. They should be aware in particular of the risk of abduction, forced marriage and the conversion of girls from religious minority communities. I gave two examples earlier, one of a Christian girl and one of a Hindu girl. Wherever that is happening, we need to do something. That is particularly important for Pakistan, where abuses are rife, yet it is the largest recipient of UK overseas development spending. I believe it is time to make that aid conditional; it is time to add protections that make sure that religious minorities—be they Hindu, Christian or any other ethnic group—have protection. Aid spending can be a method to do that.

More needs to be done to help find and rescue the 2,763 Yazidi women and children who are still missing. There is an ache in my heart when I think of them, and I know there is an ache in other Members’ hearts as well. We have a duty to help them, to find out where they are and to try to bring them home to the place where they once lived in safety. Survivors need to receive adequate assistance, including medical and psychological help, financial support to set up their homes again, and access to justice. Those who abused them must face justice. That is needed to help rebuild their lives. Impunity for those crimes must be tackled; there has to be accountability in that process. I believe we owe it to those religious communities around the world. I believe we owe it to women and girls for what they have endured. It is time to bring it to an end.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sarah Owen (Luton North) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Ms Rees.

May I start by wishing all those who are celebrating them a happy Purim, happy Holi festival—for tomorrow—and a happy St Patrick’s day for today?

It has been an absolute privilege to hear the powerful speeches here in Westminster Hall today; each case that was cited was as heartbreaking and shocking as the others. I thank the hon. Members for Strangford (Jim Shannon) and for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow (Dr Cameron) for their leadership in this area. Along with other Members of this House, they have fought for the rights of persecuted religious minorities with dedication and heart. The all-party parliamentary group on international freedom of religion or belief is an invaluable resource in pushing these rights forward. We have our own desperate problems with violence against women and girls in the UK, which we must attend to, but we cannot take our eye off the rest of the world. With Members such as the hon. Gentleman and the hon. Lady in the House, I know that we will not do so.

I also thank and pay tribute to the work of organisations such as Open Doors, which was mentioned. However, nobody else’s courage can ever match up to that displayed by the very people who are being persecuted. Today we have heard stories of women and girls who have stood tall in the face of death and danger, while continuing to worship in such dangerous environments. It is clear to us that the perpetrators of such crimes against women are not motivated by genuine religious faith. These atrocities are driven not by a pursuit of God but by a pursuit of power, an often masculine determination to enforce patriarchy to the extreme.

Female genital mutilation continues to be used as a weapon against young women and girls. It has absolutely no place in any culture in 2022, regardless of religious belief or practice. It is misogynistic torture, which causes physical injuries and lifelong psychological damage. Along with the hon. Gentleman and the hon. Lady, I should be grateful to hear from the Minister what action Britain is taking to end this grotesque practice worldwide.

As we heard, families across Nigeria remain heartbroken for the daughters and sisters who were stolen from them. Boko Haram is pursuing war against women’s rights to freedom of religion, education, employment and marriage. What hope are we offering to those families and to the girls themselves?

[Jim Shannon]

I asked a business question of the Leader of the House yesterday in order to highlight the killings of 50 men, women and children in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I was hoping that the Minister who is here today would perhaps be able, in responding to that, to give us some indication of any help that we might be able to give the authorities in the DRC, to try to find the perpetrators of those killings and to offer the authorities there some support.

[Sarah Owen]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. I hope the Minister has taken notes of all the questions that have been asked today.

The past year has reminded us what horrors the Taliban could inflict upon women and girls in Afghanistan, starting with banning girls from schools, with such devastating impact. When the overseas aid budget was slashed, warnings were raised that it would be to the detriment of girls’ education worldwide. Can the Minister assure us that providing safety and education to girls, including those suffering from religious oppression, is still an objective of this Government? Christians are also at intensified risk in Afghanistan under the new regime, and Christian women face being forced into marriages and conversion. Will the Minister please tell us whether there are still asylum routes open to Christians and to women and girls fleeing persecution in Afghanistan?

In China, the Chinese Communist party regime flattens anyone and anything that challenges the prescribed ideology. Christians are forced underground and risk detainment just for owning a Bible, and in Xinjiang, as we have heard, Uyghur Muslims are victims of genocide due to their religion and ethnicity. While thousands of Uyghurs are known to be slaving away in cotton fields, particular brutalities are saved for women: they have been sexually assaulted, tortured, had their children stolen from them, and been forcibly sterilised. The Chinese Communist party is motivated by the same principles as the Taliban, Boko Haram, Islamic State and others—the ruthless pursuit of domination. Faith is not a factor in this religious persecution, only power. Although the Government conceded last year that what is under way in Xinjiang is genocide, there has been very little change in our national response. Every day the Uyghur Muslims face ethnic cleansing, and other religious minorities, including Christians, live in fear of being found out by their oppressive Government. Will the Minister advise us on what steps are being taken to address the dangers faced by those minorities in China?

Human Rights Watch has highlighted Government policy in India as reflecting bias against Muslims. Since October 2018, Indian authorities have deported over a dozen Rohingya Muslims to Myanmar, including women and children, despite the risk to their lives and their security. In May 2019, the Government revoked the constitutional autonomy of India’s only Muslim-majority state, Jammu and Kashmir. They deployed additional troops, detained thousands of people and cut off phone and internet connections, with women and girls reporting rapes, attacks, and living in a constant state of fear.

The world risks looking more divided than ever at a time when there is no Department for International Development. Although we were promised that the cuts to international aid were temporary, that budget has not been restored. What hope does that give women and girls around the world who need our help? What future is there for our own humanitarian interventions, and what damage has this done to Britain’s standing on the world stage, especially when this is all compounded by a Prime Minister who has chosen to visit Saudi Arabia following the execution of 81 people?

As I mentioned, faith is by and large a force for good in the world, and a very powerful one—just look at the way that people of faith are stepping forward to lead the welcome for Ukrainian refugees, just as they did for Syrians, Afghans and Hongkongers. Throughout the pandemic, churches, mosques, temples, gurdwaras and synagogues served their communities with compassion and hospitality. We are lucky: we live in a country where community cohesion may not be perfect, but everyone has the right to express their beliefs in freedom and safety. That should not be a privilege; it should be a basic human right. Female believers here are largely protected from forced marriage, FGM and other abuses and have access and rights to healthcare, including reproductive healthcare.

However, there have been shocking increases in Islamophobia and antisemitism, and again, women and children in schools have borne the brunt of them. Muslim women have increasingly been subjected to horrific Islamophobic abuse in the streets and online, and even death threats. There have also been approximately 2 million antisemitic tweets in the UK; that is on one platform alone, so it would be good to hear what the Minister has to say about tackling the rising religious persecution that we are seeing in our own country.

This summer, we are due to host a global summit on freedom of religion or belief in London. It is very welcome that the Foreign Secretary has marked the issue as a priority in her brief. However, as hosts of the conference, we must be able to lead with integrity. That means using the full range of the financial and political resources that we have to intervene in religious persecution of all kinds.

I have posed many questions to the Minister today, as have other speakers. I will give him the opportunity to respond. I know there will be consensus that we have a moral duty to intervene in these areas of gross violence, suppression and misogyny. That is clear in every debate that we have on religious persecution. My hope is that we no longer need to keep having these debates to encourage our Government to make the interventions needed.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jim Shannon]

Thank you very much Ms Rees. First, I thank all hon. Members for their contributions. I thought it certainly showed the power of the hon. Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce) that, when she said she would be happy to facilitate that meeting, the Minister instantaneously agreed. I thank the Minister for being so accommodating. The hon. Lady referred to forced marriages and gender-based violence and the fact that when someone is poor, they are even more vulnerable and chastised more for their religious belief. She also referred to women being financially dependent on their husbands and said that the female body has become a battlefield.

As always, the hon. Member for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow (Dr Cameron) made a good speech. She gave us many examples, referring to the kidnappings in Egypt and Mozambique. The most vulnerable have our support and assistance, but very often they do not have it when they need it. The hon. Lady is absolutely right.

I am very pleased to see the hon. Member for Luton North (Sarah Owen) in her place, with her energy and commitment. What she said was so important. She referred to girls’ education and safety, and she referred to cases in Nigeria, Afghanistan and China of Christians and Uyghurs. She said that ethnic groups’ right to worship must be protected.

I thank the Minister for his positive response to the issues that we wish to see in place. He shared plenty of good thoughts that we wish to take on board. He referred to many countries as well, with the special rapporteur in Afghanistan and the case in Pakistan, where protection for women and girls needs to change. He referred to women and girls in Syria and money that was set aside to help there, and to ISIS and Daesh in Iraq. He also referred to China.

I always like to conclude with a Scripture text—I think it is important to do so, because that is what drives us in this Chamber. I will quote 1 Peter, chapter 2, verse 16:

“Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.”

I think that we have done that today. I am aware that we are not here for our own purposes—we are here for the purposes of the man above. For me, that is what it is all about.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered gender specific religious persecution.