Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department (a) is providing and (b) plans to provide support to Colombia to help enable (i) structural reform of the National Police, (ii) a review of the protocols for the use of force and weapons and (iii) greater protection for the right to peaceful assembly.

Whilst structural reform and internal reviews are a matter for the Colombian Government, we are clear that we support the right of all Colombians to protest peacefully, and that the right to peaceful assembly and association must be guaranteed. Through the Conflict, Security, and Stabilisation Fund (CSSF) in Colombia, the UK launched a three year, £2.1 million Police Innovations for Stabilisation in Colombia Programme (SCIP) in 2020, which is helping the transformation of the Colombian National Police. The SCIP aims to contribute to the modernisation of the police service by scaling up and improving police practices with a preventive approach, focusing on i) building links and trust with communities to improve relations and reduce conflict; ii) putting human rights first when managing social tensions and preventing violence; iii) developing and implementing strategies for tackling and preventing gender-based violence.