Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether he has made recent representations to the relevant authority in Afghanistan on the treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan, in the context of the resumption of stoning in that country.

We have repeatedly condemned Taliban policies and actions that restrict the rights of Afghan women and girls, including through UN Security Council and Human Rights Council resolutions. Officials have directly raised the decision to impose capital and corporal punishments for certain so-called 'crimes' with Taliban leaders, and called on them to reverse the decision and the other discriminatory policies that target women and girls. We will continue to work with the international community to press the Taliban to alter course.