Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

What discussions he has had with his Sri Lankan counterpart on human rights in that country.

The UK Government takes the human rights situation in Sri Lanka very seriously.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister for South Asia, raised a number of human rights concerns, including harassment of civil society and militarisation of civilian functions, when he spoke with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Gunawardena on 5 November.

We have urged Sri Lanka to address concerns in our statements to the UN Human Rights Council in February, June and September.

The UK will continue to highlight our concerns to the Government of Sri Lanka, and we will support human rights through our programme work including resettlement of victims of conflict and improving responses to sexual and gender based violence.