Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department has taken recent steps to help promote freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in West Papua, in the context of recent reports of political imprisonment in that region.

The UK Government remains committed to upholding and defending human rights, freedom of speech and equality at home and oversees. We are aware of increased tensions in the Papua region and we continue to monitor developments closely. We have raised the issue of Papua with the Indonesian Embassy in London. Officials from the British Embassy in Jakarta visited Papua in March 2022 and met with officials, police, local business, human rights defenders, environmentalists and religious leaders. They also visited the region in February and July 2023.