Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Opinions adopted by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention at its ninety-third session, reference A/HRC/WGAD/2022/19, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the findings of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention that Ryan Cornelius is arbitrarily detained in the United Arab Emirates.

The FCDO takes the opinion of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention seriously. FCDO Ministers and officials regularly raise Mr Cornelius' case with the UAE authorities, most recently on 7 February 2023 during a visit to the UAE by the FCDO's Consular Director. Mr Cornelius' case was also raised on 6 July 2022 by the then Minister for Asia and the Middle East, Amanda Milling, with UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr Gargash. Consular staff are in regular contact with Mr Cornelius and his family and are providing him with ongoing support.