Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rory Stewart and Afzal Khan

Tuesday 21st November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Afzal Khan (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)]

11. What steps he is taking to promote human rights in discussions with his counterparts in other countries.

[The Minister for Africa (Rory Stewart)]

We defend human rights in a variety of ways. That involves not only funding human rights advocates and training judges and the police, but ourselves as Ministers raising directly with heads of states and our opposite numbers human rights issues across the world and across the continents.

[Rory Stewart]

We continue to raise very strongly with the Egyptian Government our concerns about these issues. The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to raise them. There are some very troubling issues in Egypt. We continue to study them and we raise them with our US and EU partners all the way—[Interruption.] As the Foreign Secretary says, he raised it directly with President Sisi at his last meeting.

[Afzal Khan]

Similar to the horrors that we witnessed last year in eastern Aleppo in Syria, today we are confronted with the brutal siege of eastern Ghouta by the Assad regime. What action will the Government take to protect civilians and to ensure compliance by reasonable actors with the human rights obligations, most particularly the Assad regime and its regime backers?