Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Brunei about abrogating the laws under which homosexuals can be stoned to death.

The Foreign Secretary spoke to Brunei’s Foreign Minister, Dato Erywan, on 4 April to express the UK’s concerns about the impact of the Sharia Penal Code. On 11 April, the Foreign Secretary and the Minister for Asia and the Pacific met Dato Erywan and the Finance Minister, Dato Amin Liew, in London. The Prime Minister wrote to His Majesty The Sultan on 1 May. We welcome the assurances thereafter provided by the Sultan on 5 May. In particular, confirmation that the de facto moratorium on the death penalty will apply to punishments under the Sharia Penal Code and the commitment to ratify the United Nations Convention Against Torture. Following this announcement, the Minister for Asia and the Pacific met Dato Erywan and Dato Amin Liew on 7 May. I also welcomed these assurances during my meeting with the Minister of Transport and Infocommunications, Dato Mutalib on 16 May.

The announcement by His Majesty the Sultan demonstrates the importance of engaging in respectful dialogue and diplomacy to address sensitive issues. The assurances provided by the Sultan are positive and go some way to addressing our anxieties about the human rights situation in Brunei. We urge Brunei to build on these assurances and formalise its commitment to respect individual freedoms and minorities.