Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the remarks of Sri Lanka's Minister of Community Police Services, Dilum Amunugama, on Sri Lanka's president acting like Adolf Hitler on 12 April 2021, what assessment he has made of the appropriateness of the UK providing Sri Lanka with community policing training.

All UK police assistance in Sri Lanka is subject to robust Overseas Security and Justice Assistance (OSJA) assessments that analyse the potential human rights, international humanitarian law, political and reputational risks of any proposed assistance to ensure that it supports our values and is consistent with our domestic and international human rights obligations.

The UK's current police training in Sri Lanka is focused on prevention and investigation of Sexual and Gender Based Violence, and promoting gender equality and women's representation in the Sri Lankan police service. Due to Covid-19, many of the training activities have been paused, with the exception of work at the local level to support victims of sexual and gender-based violence and domestic violence.