Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will take steps to engage with the (a) Government of Saudi Arabia and (b) United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on allegations of mistreatment of ethnic Tigrayan migrants following (i) deportation or (ii) other forms of repatriation to Ethiopia.

We are aware of reports of mistreatment and poor conditions in detention centres, and the deportation of illegal migrants in Saudi Arabia. We regularly raise this and other human rights issues with the Saudi authorities through diplomatic channels, including Ministers, our Ambassador, and the British Embassy in Riyadh. In November 2020, I raised the treatment of migrants with the Saudi Ambassador to the UK. Later that month, representatives from British Embassy Riyadh visited the Al-Shumaisi Deportation centre - where approximately 90% of the detainees at the time were Ethiopian. Vicky Ford MP, Minister for Africa, spoke with Ethiopian Justice Minister Gedion in December 2021 and pressed him for an end to mass detentions in Ethiopia. Senior FCDO officials have also regularly engaged the UNHCR on this situation. We continue to monitor this situation carefully. No aspect of our relationship with Saudi Arabia prevents us from speaking frankly about human rights at both ministerial and official level.