Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to encourage the Eritrean Government to respect the right to peaceful protest in that country.

The Government remains concerned about the human rights record of the Government of Eritrea, including on Freedom of Expression. My officials raised the importance of the right to peaceful protest in a meeting with the Eritrean Ambassador in London on 8 November. We have also raised concerns on Eritrea’s human rights record in international fora, including during the interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea both at the Human Rights Council in Geneva on 16 June 2017 and at the UN General Assembly on 26 October 2017.