Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the Government of Egypt on alleged human rights abuses in that country.

The Prime Minister raised human rights concerns with Egypt's President Sisi at their meeting in September 2016. Ministers and senior officials regularly raise our concerns with the Egyptian authorities in both London and Cairo.

We are concerned about the decreasing space for civil society to operate in Egypt. I raised our concerns about the arrest of a human rights defender with the Egyptian Ambassador when we met on 8 December and reiterated concerns about a proposed new law on Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).

More recently, on 10 February, I made a statement about the closure of the Nadeem Centre, which was a step in the wrong direction.

We have also raised our concerns about human rights at the UN. During the session of the UN's Human Rights Council in September, the UK highlighted restrictions on civil society and legal action against NGOs in Egypt. In the same statement, we raised our concerns about reports of torture, enforced disappearances and police abuses in the country.

We will continue to monitor the human rights situation in Egypt closely, and to urge the Egyptian government to implement the human rights provisions contained in its constitution.