Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the findings of the report Violence and Discrimination against Women of Religious Minority Backgrounds in Pakistan published by the Coalition for Religious Equality and Inclusive Development on 25 November 2020; and whether his Department has made representations to the Government of Pakistan on that matter.

We welcome the Coalition for Religious Equality and Inclusive Development's report titled 'Violence and Discrimination against Women of Religious Minority Backgrounds in Pakistan' published on 25 November. We regularly raise our concerns on human rights issues, including Freedom of Religion or Belief, women and girls' rights and gender equality, with the Government of Pakistan. The Minister for South Asia raised our concerns about child, early and forced marriage and forced conversion of women and girls from minority religious communities, with Pakistan's Minister for Human Rights, Dr Shireen Mazari, on 19 October. He raised our concerns about human rights, including Freedom of Religion or Belief, with Pakistan's Minister for Human Rights on 16 November and with Pakistan's Special Advisor to the Prime Minister for the Interior, Shahzad Akbar, on 7 December.