Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to promote human rights in Eritrea.

We remain deeply concerned about the human rights situation in Eritrea. As my Rt Hon Friend the Member for Aylesbury (David Lidington), Minister of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, raised during an adjournment debate on Human Rights in Eritrea in November 2015, we regularly press the Government of Eritrea, including at ministerial level, to take concrete steps to improve its respect for human rights. At the UN Human Rights Council we made clear that these must include setting term limits on Eritreans doing national service and cooperating with international human rights bodies. The UK will take part in the EU Article 8 Dialogue on human rights with the Eritrean government scheduled for early 2016. We will use this to reiterate the need for reforms on human rights and implementation of the recommendations made to Eritrea during its 2014 Universal Periodic Review.