Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with her international counterparts on providing support for Nigeria following recent attacks on people practicing religion in that country.

Increasing insecurity across Nigeria is having a devastating impact on affected communities. All communities should be able to practise their religion or faith without fear. I have discussed insecurity with the Nigerian authorities on a number of occasions, most recently in February this year. At the first dialogue of our Security and Defence partnership in February, the UK Government committed to support Nigeria as it responds to growing security challenges in different parts of the country, including serious and organised crime, kidnap and terrorism.

Promoting the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) is one of the UK's longstanding human rights priorities. We remain committed to working with international partners to promote freedom and openness. On 5-6 July, we hosted an International Ministerial Conference on FoRB and brought together over 500 delegates from more than 60 countries around the world to increase global action to protect this right.