Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the treatment of LGBT+ people in Afghanistan by (a) the Taliban Government, (b) religious authorities and (c) Afghan society since August 2021.

The FCDO continues to monitor the human rights situation in Afghanistan closely, including the situation of the LGBT+ community. On 7 October 2022, we co-sponsored a Human Rights Council resolution to extend the UN Special Rapporteur's mandate to monitor human rights in Afghanistan. As the UN Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett has since reported, LGBT+ people face discrimination, threats and violence in Afghanistan. FCDO officials continue to call on the Taliban to protect all minority communities.