Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the UN on the cases of Eritrean Christians who are subject to alleged persecution and harassment in that country.
We remain concerned about the human rights record of the Government of Eritrea. We have raised these concerns consistently, most recently during the interactive dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on 16 June 2017. One of the issues highlighted was that of arbitrary detentions, including those detained on the basis of their religious belief. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office also joined a recent campaign calling for the release of Patriarch Antonios after 10 years imprisonment in Eritrea.