Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his Zimbabwean counterpart on the violent suppression of civilian protests in that country in January 2019.

British Ambassador Melanie Robinson met Foreign Minister Moyo on 20 February and Finance Minister Ncube on 19 February. She reinforced our calls on the Government of Zimbabwe to investigate all allegations of human rights violations and urge them to follow the due process of law for all those arrested in connection to January's protests.

I summoned the Zimbabwean Ambassador on 17 January to urge the security forces to stop using disproportionate force and reinforce the right of the people of Zimbabwe to protest. On 30 January, I spoke to Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Moyo, repeating our calls for an end to human rights violations and a full investigation into all alleged abuse, including arbitrary arrests.