Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that (1) the perpetrators of sexual violence in Eritrea are brought to justice, (2) evidence of sexual violence in that country is collected and preserved, and (3) UN investigators have the necessary access to conduct an assessment of reported atrocities; and what steps they are taking to deploy UK experts in preventing sexual violence in conflict to Eritrea.

We have deployed from the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative UK Team of Experts. Recommendations from an initial scoping mission by them will outline options for supporting the Government of Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and other key stakeholders to safely collect and preserve evidence, and bring the perpetrators of sexual violence to justice. The UK fully supports the joint investigation involving the UN Office of the High Commission for Human Rights.