Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Egyptian counterpart about the deadline of Monday 10 November for all civil society organisations to register under the Law on Associations (Law 84 of 2002).

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) and I raised the Law on Associations and the deadline for registration at our meeting with the Egyptian Foreign Minister on 27 October.

We remain very concerned at the decreasing space for civil society and the media to operate. At the Universal Periodic Review of Egypt’s human rights situation in Geneva on 5 November, the UK recommended that the Egyptian government ensure full implementation of the provisions for the free operation of civil society as contained in the constitution, including through a revised NGO law that conforms to international standards and protects freedom of expression.