Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the outcome was of the Warsaw summit on Iran of 13 to 14 February 2019; and what assessment he has made of the level of human rights violations that have recently taken place in Iran.

The Foreign Secretary took part in elements of the Warsaw Summit as well as meetings in the margins, in order to pursue further progress towards a peaceful outcome to the conflict in Yemen and to discuss wider thematic challenges in the Middle East. In particular, he hosted a Ministerial Quad meeting on Yemen, which focused on supporting implementation of the Stockholm Agreement. Through the Summit's working groups, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) officials were able to discuss wider challenges facing the region, including the proliferation of weapons, the need to address humanitarian crises in the region, and how to counter violent extremism.

Iran's record on human rights continues to be of serious concern to the UK, and the FCO has designated it as one of its Human Rights Priority Countries. The continued use of the death penalty, weak rule of law and restrictions on freedoms of expression, religion and belief are deeply worrying. At the upcoming Human Rights Council in March 2019, the UK will strongly support the renewal of the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran.