Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the Kyrgyzstan authorities on ensuring the promotion of freedom of religion by that country's State Commission for Religious Affairs.

We engage with the Kyrgyzstan authorities across the full spectrum of human rights issues, including freedom of religion. Our Embassy in Bishkek regularly meets with representatives from local civil society and international organisations and the government, including the State Commission for Religious Affairs, to better understand the challenges to the promotion of freedom of religion. We have also supported efforts to further the dialogue between the State Commission for Religious Affairs and religious groups in country.

We are involved in a number of initiatives which indirectly support religious freedom and education within Kyrgyzstan. Only this month, British Imam Qari Muhammad Asim attended an international conference on Islam, organised by the State Commission for Religious Affairs in Bishkek, which recognised the importance of freedom of religion and interfaith dialogue.

We will continue to raise our concerns about human rights directly with the Kyrgyz Government, and in the appropriate international fora, at every suitable opportunity.

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