Last week, 287 children aged between five and 12 were kidnapped from their school in Nigeria. That comes on top of 8,000 Christians who were killed for their faith last year. What are we doing about it?

The UK is committed to defending Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) for all. We monitor the situation for religious and non-religious communities globally and recognise the persecution of Christians and other groups on account of their faith or beliefs, including in Africa. We work multilaterally and bilaterally to promote FoRB, and it remains an important priority for our work in Africa. The Prime Minister's Special Envoy for FoRB, the Honourable member for Congleton, plays an active role in supporting this work and spoke at the launch of Aid to the Church in Need's Africa focussed report in Parliament on 24 October.

Rising insecurity has impeded on the rights of people of all faiths in Nigeria. The UK supports Nigeria to deliver on its constitutional commitment to Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) through our development programming and security cooperation. We have funded peacebuilding projects to build dialogue between religious groups and, in April 2023, launched the Strengthening Peace and Resilience in Nigeria programme to help Nigeria tackle the causes of intercommunal conflict. Through the UK-Nigeria Security and Defence Partnership, we provide training to the Nigerian police and military on tackling terrorism and serious crime.

The UK is committed to supporting women in Iran by ensuring the Iranian regime is held to account. We do this in part through our sanctions. HMG has announced nine rounds of Iran human rights sanctions since October 2022. We also work closely with our international partners including to remove Iran from the UN Commission on the Status of Women in 2022. We raise human rights directly with the Iranian authorities at all appropriate opportunities, including through our Ambassador in Tehran.

In Afghanistan, the Government has repeatedly condemned the Taliban's decisions to restrict the rights of women and girls including through the UN Security Council, Human Rights Council resolutions and public statements. We continue to support the delivery of education, through bilateral and multilateral contributions.

More broadly, we are committed to strengthening the international architecture on accountability for gender-based crimes including by supporting a new convention on crimes against humanity through the UN, as announced by the Foreign Secretary in November 2022.

Insecurity is undermining freedom of religion or belief for all communities in Nigeria. I [Andrew Mitchell] raised the effects of rising insecurity on communities with Nigerian President-elect Tinubu, in December 2022. At a federal level, we have provided technical assistance for the establishment of the Peace and Inclusive Security Initiative of the Nigeria Governors' Forum, which helps tackle intercommunal violence. The UK is also funding peacebuilding projects in several Nigerian states which support community reconciliation by training peace ambassadors and faith leaders. Helping Nigeria tackle violence against civilians will remain a focus of the UK-Nigeria Security and Defence Partnership. The UK Government will continue to encourage the Nigerian Government to assist affected communities and implement long-term solutions.

The UK Government condemns all violence against civilians in Nigeria. The root causes of conflict are complex. Religious identity can be a factor, and competition over land and resources, historical grievances, violent extremism, and criminality are also important drivers of conflict.

FCDO officials regularly meet the Nigerian High Commission. Former Minister for Africa, James Duddridge, raised religious identity and violence with the Nigerian High Commissioner in July 2021.

We welcomed the pledge from the High Commissioner at the Conference on Freedom of Religion or Belief to uphold Nigeria's constitutional right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

On 23 November the FCDO marked Red Wednesday by lighting up our UK buildings in solidarity with Christians around the world who are persecuted for their beliefs. The Government is committed to promoting and defending the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for everyone, everywhere. This includes ensuring that progress made in implementing the Bishop of Truro's recommendations for an enhanced response to the plight of persecuted Christians, and people persecuted for holding other religions, beliefs, or no religious belief, is embedded and that FoRB is central to our wider human rights work.

The Baha'i community in Iran is systematically persecuted by the authorities. Reports this year indicate Iran has redoubled this repression, with expropriation and repossession of land, destruction of homes, and increasing detention of members of the community. As the Minister with responsibility for the Middle East and Human Rights Lord (Tariq) Ahmad said on 5 August: persecution of religious minorities is a serious human rights violation and cannot be tolerated in 2022.

We reiterated our commitment to holding Iran to account for its persecution of the Baha'i at the UN General Assembly Third Committee on Wednesday 26 October. We raise Iran's dire human rights record at all appropriate opportunities, both directly with Iranian authorities and in multilateral fora.

The Baha'i community in Iran is systematically persecuted by the authorities. Reports this year indicate Iran has redoubled this repression, with expropriation and repossession of land, destruction of homes, and increasing detention of members of the community. As the Minister with responsibility for the Middle East and Human Rights Lord (Tariq) Ahmad said on 5 August: persecution of religious minorities is a serious human rights violation and cannot be tolerated in 2022.

We reiterated our commitment to holding Iran to account for its persecution of the Baha'i at the UN General Assembly Third Committee on Wednesday 26 October. We raise Iran's dire human rights record at all appropriate opportunities, both directly with Iranian authorities and in multilateral fora.

The Baha'i community in Iran is systematically persecuted by the authorities, including through expropriation of land, destruction of homes, and unfair detentions. Persecution of religious minorities is a serious human rights violation and cannot be tolerated in 2022. We have excellent links with the Baha'i community in London and will continue to work with them to advocate for the rights of the Baha'i community in Iran.

We raise Iran's dire human rights record, including its treatment of the Baha'i, at all appropriate opportunities, both in London and directly via His Majesty's Ambassador in Tehran. We continue to work with partners to hold Iran to account through multilateral fora such as the UN Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly Third Committee, where we reiterated our condemnation of Iran's persecution of the Baha'i on Wednesday 26 October.