Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Colombian counterpart on the 24 trade unionists killed in Colombia in 2015.

Mr Hugo Swire

Our Embassy in Bogotá takes every opportunity to urge the Colombian government to take further measures to prevent violence and threats against human rights defenders and trade unionists. Our Ambassador in Bogotá raised concerns about human rights defenders with the Colombian Interior Minister on 1 February and with the Presidential Advisor for Human Rights on 4 February. Furthermore, this year we are funding a Colombian NGO to develop protection measures for human rights defenders in rural areas. Our Embassy will continue to raise these issues in regular meetings with the Colombian government.