Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent meetings Ministers and officials in his Department have held with human rights organisations in Bahrain to discuss the detention of human rights activists in that country.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials in Bahrain frequently meet members from Bahraini human rights organisations to discuss the human rights situation there. Our engagement is constructive and focussed on supporting human rights and political reform. Most recently, in November, our Embassy officials were in contact with the Bahrain Human Rights Society regarding the detention of a number of protesters who were charged with disrupting the elections process, joining an illegal group, and calling for the overthrow of the government.

In December, I chaired the fourth UK-Bahrain Joint Working Group where we discussed progress on Bahrain reform agenda. The UK is actively engaged on Bahrain’s human rights and political reform agenda, and is providing a package of technical assistance with a focus on strengthening human rights and rule of law.