Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in Eritrea on the increase in political asylum seekers from that country.

The UK participates in the EU/Africa Khartoum Process; the main regional mechanism for tackling human trafficking and people smuggling in the Horn of Africa most notably from Eritrea.

We are using our increased engagement with Eritrea to push for the tangible improvements in Eritrea's human rights record, including: amending its national service system; fully implementing its own constitution; and cooperating with international human rights bodies.