Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the use of surveillance technology by authoritarian governments to target religious minorities; and what steps he is taking to ensure UK-based companies are not complicit in such repression through the (a) export and (b) licensing of relevant technologies.

The UK remains strongly committed to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all abroad. We are working bilaterally and multilaterally to hold countries to account for repression of religious or belief minorities.

The UK takes its export control responsibilities very seriously and we operate one of the most robust export control regimes in the world. We will not grant an export licence for controlled surveillance technology, if to do so would be inconsistent with the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria, including if there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate internal repression. The UK has measures in place to ensure that the development, sale, export and use of any UK commercial surveillance tools happens responsibly. Such tools must not be used to facilitate arbitrary and unlawful surveillance, including the targeting of individuals or members of a group based on discriminatory grounds, or to violate or abuse human rights and fundamental freedoms.