Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to support journalists in Somalia from attacks and intimidation.

The British Government is working with the Government of Somalia and Somali media, civil society organisations and international partners to support media freedom and protect journalists in Somalia from attacks and intimidation. In November 2019 the British Embassy in Mogadishu released a statement expressing solidarity with detained journalists in Somalia, reinforcing that journalists must be able to investigate and report without undue interference. This year in January the British Embassy in Mogadishu hosted the first ever Somali Journalism Award ceremony to celebrate talented Somali journalists. Somali Ministers attended this event as well as the Global Conference on Media Freedom in London in July 2019.