Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure women's rights are discussed at the London Conference on Afghanistan in December 2014; and what objectives he has for that conference relating to the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.

Ensuring Afghan women and girls’ rights are protected and feature prominently in the London Conference is a key objective for the UK Government. These issues will be incorporated across all of the main themes and events at the conference. This includes an associated event “Ayenda” for civil society and a session in the main plenary to report back on the key messages that have emerged from the Oslo Symposium on Afghanistan Women’s Rights and Empowerment, attended by the Minister of State, my noble Friend the right hon. Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 23 November.