Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to support the Marrakesh Declaration, signed on 27 January 2016.

Mr David Lidington

The Government welcomes the Marrakech Declaration, which issued from a gathering of Muslim scholars and intellectuals from over 120 countries in January 2016. In particular we welcome its call for cooperation among all religious groups to go beyond mutual tolerance and respect, and instead to provide full protection for the rights and liberties of all. We also welcome the call for Muslim scholars and intellectuals around the world to develop a jurisprudence which is inclusive of diverse groups; for governments to review educational curricula that instigate aggression and extremism and to support initiatives to fortify relations and understanding among the various religious groups in the Islamic World. We stand ready to help governments and civil society in Muslim majority countries in whatever way we can, and encourage them to put the words of the Declaration into action.