Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to raise the case of civil society activist Sombath Somphone at the UN's fourth Universal Periodic Review of Laos on 29 April.

The UK will continue to use the UN Human Rights Council as a platform to raise the case of Sombath Somphone and other human rights cases. In the upcoming Universal Periodic Review in April, the UK will urge the Lao Government to follow and implement the recommendations from Member States. This includes undertaking impartial, thorough, and transparent investigations into all enforced disappearances, including Sombath Somphone.