Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made recent representations to the authorities in Afghanistan on the treatment of women and girls in that country.

We repeatedly condemn the Taliban's draconian restrictions on women and girls' rights, both bilaterally and internationally. The UK Mission to Afghanistan in Doha continues to press Taliban acting ministers and Afghan officials on their grotesque human rights abuses. UK officials most recently visited Kabul in January 2025 to raise human rights issues with senior members of the Taliban, including their policies which limit women and girls' freedoms.

While in New York in January I publicly demonstrated my support for Afghan women and girls at the UN, ahead of the International Day of Education on 24 January.