Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make representations to his Colombian counterpart on the reported killing of 18-year-old activist Jayder Quintana in Cauca, southwest Colombia.

As we emphasised in the UN Security Council session on 14 July following the Special Representative's report, and will raise again in the Security Council on 14 October, the UK continues to be very concerned about the persistent level of violence towards human rights defenders, social leaders, former FARC-EP combatants, and others. We regularly raise these issues with the Colombian Government and in multilateral fora, and will continue to do so, including during Lord Ahmad's human rights-focused virtual visit to Colombia this week.

We have urged the Colombian Government to prioritise the tackling of this violence, and continue to work to improve security conditions around the country. The UK is also committed to continuing its own programming to support the government's efforts, and mitigate risks to communities.