Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make freedom of belief a priority policy for his Department.

The protection of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) is a priority of Her Majesty's Government's foreign policy and will continue to be so. Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers and Officials regularly raise individual cases and highlight practices and laws that discriminate against people on the basis of their religion or belief.

The United Kingdom also actively promotes FoRB through multilateral diplomacy. At the last session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the United Kingdom worked to maintain consensus on the adoption and implementation of the European Union sponsored Resolution on 'Freedom of Religion or Belief' and the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation sponsored Resolution on 'Combating Religious Intolerance'. Through the Magna Carta Fund for Human Rights and Democracy, the FCO also continues to support a number of projects to promote tolerance. Current projects include work to promote religious tolerance through secondary school curricula in Iraq, Morocco and Lebanon.