Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-04-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Colombian government on human rights and the deaths of striking agricultural workers.
Mr Hugo Swire
The UK is fully engaged on a range of human rights issues in Colombia. The UK’s priority areas include access to justice, support to human rights defenders, work to prevent sexual violence against women and encouraging business to implement human rights protocols in their operations. The British Embassy continues to monitor and raise human rights issues with the Colombian government. The Foreign Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister both raised human rights with President Santos during their separate visits to Colombia in February.
In June 2013, the British Embassy in Bogota met with representatives of peasant associations and civil society and requested that the Colombian government initiate dialogue and investigate the alleged excessive use of force during the social protests involving striking agricultural workers in Catatumbo. The British Embassy also raised concerns with the Finance Minister, Defence Minister and the Head of the Colombian police.
On 17 March 2014, senior Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) officials in the UK also met with the visiting Colombian Vice-Fiscal, General, Jorge Perdomo, and discussed the progress made in the investigations into the deaths of the striking agricultural workers. They also discussed the reform of the Criminal Justice System, which would ensure the protection of fundamental human rights and the human rights situation in Colombia.
Most recently on 9 April 2014, senior FCO Officials in the UK and the British Embassy in Colombia discussed the Colombia chapter in the FCO’s 2013 Annual Human Rights Report, in which we raised the need for conclusive investigations into members of the security forces accused of excessive use of force during the protests of June to August 2013.
