Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-02-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest assessment of the human rights situation in Guinea-Bissau.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The UK welcomes the return to constitutional order in Guinea-Bissau following the democratic Presidential and Legislative elections in 2014. We also welcome the subsequent improvement in the human rights situation, particularly in respect of civil and political rights, but further progress needs to be made, especially in strengthening the justice sector. We have encouraged Guinea-Bissau to take practical steps to accelerate the eradication of Female Genital Mutilation and to reduce the number of child, early and forced marriages, including at the UN in January during the Universal Periodic Review of Guinea-Bissau’s human rights record.