Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the Palestinian Authority's compliance with the Optional Protocol of the Convention Against Torture.

Human Rights is a crucial element underpinning the UK's foreign policy. We continue to urge the Palestinian Authority (PA) to respect human rights, to ensure complaints of mistreatment or arbitrary detention are properly investigated and to further improve the performance of the security sector. An essential aspect of our efforts to prepare the ground for a two state-solution is to support a stable PA that can deliver services to its people and act as an effective partner for peace with Israel. The UK will continue to monitor these areas closely and raise with the highest levels of the PA.