Q and A with CSW Parliamentary Officer

CSW Ambassadors Exclusive Q&A with Mike, CSW’s Parliamentary Officer.

Hi Mike! Could you tell us a little about what you do at CSW?

Absolutely. In a nutshell, I’m CSW’s Parliamentary Officer and it’s my job to try and take the work of CSW and it’s advocates into parliament in order to raise awareness of the issues that we work on, as well as getting MPs to press the government on its work towards freedom of religion or belief.

What does it mean to take an issue to an MP?

As MPs are responsible for holding the UK Government to account, I work with MPs to ask the government about legislation that suppresses religious minorities in countries we work in, individual cases of persecution, incidents of hate speech by Ministers from overseas governments… the list goes on! Essentially, anything that affects freedom of religion or belief overseas.

What does an average day look like for you?

It’s a belter of a question! The day’s work will actually have started about a week before, as I look at the business of the week ahead to see if any relevant debates or question times are coming up. I’ll watch the debates, and follow up with any MPs who mention issues relating to freedom of religion or belief, or who have an interest in any of the 26 countries we work in. This goes for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords as well as meetings outside of them, such as committee meetings. I’ll try to attend these to make sure CSW is a physical presence in parliament as well as a pest on their phones and emails! In the meantime, I’ll be going through the written business papers to see if any MP or peer has put down any relevant written questions, and then I’ll get in touch with them too.

How many Christian MPs are in Parliament after the election?

A good number of our old friends were re-elected and there are some new MPs who are Christians.

Who are CSW’s main allies when it comes to religious freedom?

I think the answer to your question is… anyone!

There are a lot of Christian MPs who are passionate about seeing justice where Christians are persecuted, and are very keen to hear from CSW about the difficulties that our overseas church partners bring to us. They can then approach a government minister to ask what the government is doing to combat persecution, confident of having reliable and corroborated information from CSW.

Likewise, I also work with MPs who don’t have faith but have a strong record on human rights. Some are very knowledgeable about certain countries and want to see religious freedom for all in those countries. As CSW speaks out for FoRB (Freedom of Religion or Belief) for all, we always get a really good hearing from these MPs, which shows what a strong and unique position CSW holds in the marketplace for MPs’ attention in parliament.

A good example of this is Rehman Chishti, MP for Gillingham, who used to work as an advisor for Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan. We worked with him in the last parliament as he has consistently spoken up on the case of Asia Bibi, and advocated for religious freedom for all in Pakistan.

What’s the most encouraging response you’ve had when talking to an MP about religious freedom? We love hearing the good news stories!

We’ve had a myriad of encouraging responses! MPs know that we provide sound and reliable briefing materials. This was really evident when I approached an MP to ask about a case of a young atheist in Egypt who’d been jailed for running a Facebook group (similar to the Ambassadors Facebook group!). Although the case wasn’t well known, he took it up with a government minister regardless. That level of trust is really encouraging and really helps our advocacy work.

Some have said that a ‘Christian Holocaust’ is taking place in the Middle East… is this something that MPs would concur with?

Daesh (Islamic State) through their abhorrent campaign across the region have certainly raised the profile of religious freedom for religious minorities, more so than for a long time. Many MPs would hold that view. However, we are trying to ensure we also draw attention to the countless violations of religious freedom that happen daily all over the world in addition to North Africa and the Middle East.

Does political expediency hinder attempts to highlight religious freedom? For example, our government has relationships with countries like Saudi Arabia that have terrible religious liberty and human rights records, even being allies?

This is where parliament comes in, ensuring that the government includes a frank and honest discourse about human rights and religious freedom within its international relationships. I personally think that the UK government is more effective doing this through friendly dialogue. For example, when a delegation of MPs visited Saudi Arabia I witnessed an MP pressing their Minister for Justice on rights of religious minorities.

What are the most and least exciting parts of your role working with parliament?

The most exciting part is getting to know all of the work our outstanding advocates are doing, in order that I can take it to MPs and parliament. It’s also a real buzz to meet with MPs and talk with them about the difficult situations and persecution that a lot of our partners face, and to convince them of the importance of freedom of religion or belief.

Least interesting: I love every part of my job so none!

What are your plans and hopes for parliament work over the next couple of months and how it may be implemented? How can Ambassadors assist in this?

Great question! Post election, MPs will be very keen to be seen as coming racing out of the blocks, and as individual constituents, you really do have currency to spend! So over the next couple of months, the CSW team will suggest a few different ways you can help put CSW on your MP’s radar, but more importantly, put international justice with regards to freedom of religion or belief on their radar.

We’re currently finishing up a ‘Freedom of Religion or Belief Toolkit’, which we will give to MPs as a short introduction into this human right and advise them on what they can do in parliament to promote it. We’ll launch this in parliament and we’ll be asking MPs to come along to the launch and pick up their own toolkit. If Ambassadors could contact your MPs and get them along, that would be invaluable! We’ll send you more information soon.