Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Freedom of Religion or Belief on 11 September 2019 that “reform is taking place” in Bahrain, what assessment they have made of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom’s Annual Report 2020: Bahrain Chapter, published in April, which states that Bahrain “continued its ongoing and systematic discrimination against some Shi’a Muslims on the basis of their religious identity” in 2019, noting in particular the mistreatment of Shi’a prisoners, the harassment of Shi’a Imams and jailed Shi’a activists who advocate for greater freedom of religion in Bahrain.

Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) is a human rights priority for the UK Government. Bahrain was the first country visited by the Prime Minister's Special Envoy on FoRB in September 2019. The Special Envoy discussed FoRB with religious leaders from the range of different faiths represented in Bahrain. Our most recent assessment of Bahrain was published as part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Human Rights and Democracy Report in June 2019. We take note of a number of sources of information when making assessments.