Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his polices of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Amendment Bill for democracy and human rights in Zimbabawe.

The UK is monitoring the progress through [Zimbabwe's] parliament of so-called "patriotic" amendments to Zimbabwe's criminal code, which could be used to target critics of the state, if passed into law. We regularly raise human rights issues, including freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, with the Government of Zimbabwe, in concert with other embassies. The former Minister for Africa [Vicky Ford MP] discussed these issues with Zimbabwe's Foreign Minister [Frederick Shava] last June and our Ambassador publicly underlined the UK's commitment to the right to peaceful assembly and association on 2 October.