David Simpson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2015-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to tackle the persecution of Christians in Somalia.

Mr David Lidington

The overwhelming majority of people in Somalia are Muslim (around 99.8%) and Islam is recognised as the official state religion in Somalia’s provisional constitution. The UK continues to support the Federal Government of Somalia in their efforts to bring government control to Somalia, and restore essential freedoms to all Somalis.

The UK is working with the Federal Government of Somalia to establish a national human rights commission, to improve human rights for everybody in Somalia, irrespective of their religious persuasion – and also supporting the United Nations assistance mission in Somalia (UNSOM) monitoring and improving human rights.