Human Rights: Colombia

Tony Lloyd Excerpts

Wednesday 20th April 2022 Westminster Hall

[Paula Barker]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention, and I completely concur with the views she shared. As we have heard, Colombia is the most dangerous place in the world for trade unionists. More than 3,000 have been murdered since 1989—more than in the rest of the world combined. They are murdered with impunity, often by right-wing paramilitary groups with links to Colombia’s state apparatus, and no one is brought to justice.

The 2016 peace agreement was meant to change that and so much beside for trade unionists and those campaigning for workers’ rights, peasant farmers, former FARC combatants who laid down their arms, and those who sought justice for the crimes inflicted on their families and communities by the likes of FARC. For all Colombians, 2016 was a marker to alter the direction of the entire nation. Indeed, it still can be. Despite the setbacks, it is important to avoid falling into the trap of total cynicism and despair. However, elections are looming next month, and for so many progress is still too slow. Although the violence proves relentless, we are in a volatile period with the forces of peace and chaos delicately balanced. It is the job of Colombia’s international partners, such as the UK, to continue to promote peace, support the outcome of next month’s election and work closely with the incumbent or any newly elected Government on our common objectives.

The key tenets of the 2016 peace agreement between ex-President Juan Manuel Santos and the then commander-in-chief of the ultra-left revolutionary FARC group, Rodrigo “Timochenko” Londoño, included a ceasefire and disarmament, justice for victims, action on drug trafficking, the political process that saw FARC become registered as a political party, and wholesale land reform. It must be said that there has been some progress, such as the election of 16 victims into special peace seats in Colombia’s House of Representatives. Some 14,000 FARC combatants have laid down their arms and joined the peace process; the majority have moved out of camps and into civilian life. The Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies in the US asserts that, as late as last year, 29% of the accords had been fully implemented, which is significant given that the process is expected to last 15 years.

On the polarising matter of justice for FARC victims, progress is being made, although it is too slow for some and not far enough for many, who want positive, not transitional, justice. On the other hand, the security situation is either deteriorating or static. The current Government have failed to grasp the severity of the threat posed by the far-right paramilitary groups that threaten to jeopardise the peace process. The current President has a responsibility to safeguard the peace process, and that means affording protection to those taking part in it. Many believe that security, or a lack of it, and the escalating violence are the biggest threats that could tip the balance of forces in favour of chaos.

[Tony Lloyd (Rochdale) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend touches on a really important point. One of the groups who have been systematically murdered is ex-members of FARC. The signal that that gives to others is that making peace is potentially the wrong road; it encourages people to go back into the jungle and take up arms again. That is the wrong message. There has to be action by any Colombian Government on that.

[Paula Barker]

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention, and I completely concur.

The early part of this year makes for very grim reading. The murder of Jorge Santofimio, the former FARC fighter turned environmentalist, was harrowing. The number of former FARC combatants killed since 2016 is now over 300. More than 900 social leaders have been killed since the peace agreement was signed in 2016. In the first three months of 2022, 48 social activists and 11 former FARC combatants have been killed, and 27 massacres have taken place. It goes without saying that if those who laid down their arms feel that they are not afforded protection, there is a risk that they will take up arms again. My hon. Friend the Member for Rochdale (Tony Lloyd) made that point very well.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, at the UN Security Council briefing on Colombia, called on the Colombian Government

“to continue to expand its efforts to provide adequate protection and security, improve state presence in conflict-affected areas…and strengthen the institutions that can investigate and prosecute those responsible for these crimes.”

I must also note the murder of the indigenous leader Miller Correa on 14 March this year. Only eight days prior to his death Miller was named alongside other activists in a threat signed by a group identifying itself as the far-right Black Eagles. It was a great loss, and many other leaders now face increased threats. Perhaps the UK Government could obtain clarity from the Colombian Government about why authorities have withdrawn the security detail from indigenous Senator-elect and human rights defender Aída Quilcué, after she faced similar threats to those made about the murdered Correa, again by the Black Eagles. The same Black Eagles group is now making threats against progressive political forces in the historic pact—most recently, Francia Márquez, who is the frontrunner to secure the vice-presidency in May.

In summary, in the run-up to May’s presidential elections, the Colombian Government must step up in defence of the peace process; expand the security afforded to those participating in the process; commit to protect religious, indigenous, sexual, trade union and labour rights; and, without question, accept the outcome of May’s election. The UK Government must aid the Colombian Government in those aims, if they are sincere in pursuing them, and must without question support any new Government that is elected in May.

--- Later in debate ---

[Tony Lloyd (Rochdale) (Lab)]

Once again, it is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms McDonagh. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Wavertree (Paula Barker): this is an important debate, and it is worth making the important point that when we talk about the peace process, it is a process, not a conclusion. My hon. Friend the Member for City of Chester (Christian Matheson) made the point that this has been the longest-running civil war that the world has known; actually, Colombia is still in a state of civil war. The ELN is still active, and parts of the FARC have returned to armed combat because of the failure of the Colombian Government to implement the peace process and their commitments. The paramilitaries—who always were the biggest killers in Colombia—are more than active, and there is a need to disarm all those groups, but the Colombian state is also a perpetrator of the kind of violence that my hon. Friend the Member for Jarrow (Kate Osborne) mentioned a few moments ago.

That peace process is absolutely fundamental. The first thing I would say to the Minister—I know he will say this himself—is that whoever wins the presidential election that is now well under way, the British Government, as a friend of Colombia, has a responsibility to be very active in demanding action now to disarm the paramilitaries, work for a peace agreement with the ELN, and bring state forces under real control. That is fundamental, because that control has never been there. We are a friend of Colombia, and I accept that, although I have some doubts about the outgoing Government in Colombia. We can, though, be more vocal in establishing the bounds of our friendship.

As the penholder at the United Nations, but also as a country that has helped to fund the truth commission—I very much welcome the British Government’s role in that process—we must make sure that the work of that commission is recognised, heard, taken to the United Nations and monitored, because implementation of its recommendations will be fundamental in building momentum around the peace process. I hope the Minister can give an assurance that when the report comes out, we will take that process very seriously, and do all we can to make sure it is not simply heard, but worked on.

I have several other quick points. I am conscious of time, Ms McDonagh, and I think others still need to speak. A number of my colleagues spoke about the death toll that affects particular groups—yes, trade unionists, human rights defenders and environmental campaigners, but also the ordinary people of Colombia, who face the lack of control of those groups. We have done this in the past, but we have to help the Colombian Government establish mechanisms to ensure that impunity becomes less likely. It will take a long time for impunity to be taken out of existence in Colombia because of the historical forces and that culture, but strengthening the institutions—for example, strengthening the capacity of the prosecuting authorities to take the perpetrators of great violence through a legal process—is absolutely fundamental, because that has never been the case. That level of impunity means that generals, those who control the wealth of Colombia and those who were members of armed groups in the past can and will continue to murder and inflict the kind of wounds that Colombia has suffered so much from in the past. As a friendly Government, we can make a material difference to strengthening those institutions.

I have been involved with and interested in Colombia for well over the majority of my life. It has not always been a pleasure, because sometimes there is real tragedy. I have known people who have died—people I have counted as friends have been murdered—but anybody involved in Colombia knows that it is a beautiful country whose people are worth fighting for. The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) referred to the wee folk, and it is the wee folk of Colombia who we must speak up for. It is worth doing, because that beautiful country and those beautiful people deserve better. They can have better. The peace process can make a material difference, but we, as a friend of Colombia, have to work with them on it to bring it to some kind of fruition. It will take time, but the value of it is so enormous that it is worth doing.