To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to secure religious freedom for Christians throughout the world.
Answered on
14 January 2019
​Freedom of Religion or Belief is an important part of the work done by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. We regularly raise this issue with international counterparts both at ministerial and senior official levels and in multilateral forums.
The respected NGO, Open Doors, estimates that 215 million Christians experience high or extreme levels of persecution around the world. To ensure that the United Kingdom is using its influence to support Christians in the best possible way, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs commissioned an independent, global review into the persecution of Christians on 26th December 2018. This review will be led by the Bishop of Truro, the Right Reverend Philip Mounstephen will report by Easter the additional practical steps the government can take to support persecuted Christians. Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/foreign-secretary-announces-global-review-into-persecution-of-christians