Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department plans to take steps to mark the 31st Anniversary of killings in Khojaly on 26 February 1992.

FCDO established a Mass Atrocity Prevention Hub in September 2022; the Hub is supporting FCDO teams to embed atrocity prevention work and build capability, including on monitoring and risk assessments. The UK Government remains committed to supporting efforts to secure positive relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and continues to work through bilateral channels and multilateral fora in pursuit of that goal. In recent engagements with the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister on 22 February and Armenian Foreign Minister on 18 January, I [Minister Docherty] reinforced the need for constructive negotiations between the two states. The events of February 1992 were a tragic episode in Azerbaijan's history, and were strongly condemned by the UK Government at the time. Such hostilities should never take place again. The UK Ambassador to Azerbaijan laid a wreath at the memorial in Baku on 24 February.