Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the ability of LGBTQ support organisations to operate freely in Tajikistan.

There is an increasingly difficult operating environment for NGOs in Tajikistan. Three Tajik NGOs working with the LGBTQ community have closed in the past two years. The operating environment for NGOs, for example the pressure and harassment imposed on NGOs by the burdensome inspections, fines and registration requirements, was raised at the October 2017 EU Human Rights Dialogue with the Government of Tajikistan.

Our Ambassador meets members of the LGBTQ and other minority communities in Tajikistan to give them the opportunity to share their concerns. Something which demonstrates UK leadership in the area of human rights.