Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Indian counterpart on that country's ratification and implementation of the UN Convention against Torture and the International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict.

The Government recommended that the Indian government expedite ratification of the UN Convention Against Torture during India’s Universal Periodic Review in May, 2012. The issue was also raised at the EU-India Human Rights Dialogue in December, 2013.

The former Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague) discussed the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative and the International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict with the Indian Minister for External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj during his visit to India in July 2014. We welcomed the Indian High Commissioner to the UK's attendance at the the ‘End Sexual Violence in Conflict’ Summit in June 2014.