Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of religious freedom in Azerbaijan; and what steps the Government is taking to promote and protect the right to freedom of religion or belief in that country.

The majority of people in Azerbaijan are able to practise their religion freely. We are concerned, however, that some groups have been prevented from practising their faith by the authorities, and some religious activists have been prosecuted without free or fair trials. The British Embassy in Baku regularly observes criminal trials in such cases and raises freedom of religion with officials from the Government of Azerbaijan. The British Embassy also held an event to mark International Religious Freedom Day on 27 October 2017 to raise awareness of this issue.