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 Malaysian counterpart on respect for fundamental human rights including freedom of religion in that country.

​The British Government is firmly committed to standing up for human rights around the world, including for freedom of religion or belief. These views are well known in Malaysia, and our longstanding relationship allows us to raise concerns at the highest level with the Malaysian government.

The Foreign Secretary discussed human rights in his meetings with Malaysian ministers during his visit in January 2019, as did I during my visit in October 2018. Our High Commission in Kuala Lumpur has raised the issue of freedom of religion or belief with the Malaysian Foreign Minister and Religious Affairs Minister.

We continue to support the Malaysian Government's ambitions to ratify UN instruments on human rights, reform security legislation and abolish the death penalty. We reiterated these points at Malaysia's Universal Periodic Review at UN Human Rights Council in November 2018.