Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has made representations to her Colombian counterpart on the effectiveness of the dismantling of paramilitary groups in that country following the 2016 peace agreement.

Colombia is a UK Human Rights Priority Country and UK ministers and senior officials regularly raise our concerns about the activities of illegal armed groups with the Colombian Government and in multilateral fora. Most recently, Lord Ahmad discussed human rights and the security situation in Colombia in his meeting with President Duque on 12 April. Successive UK-drafted UN Security Council press statements have called for the National Commission on Security Guarantees, working with civil society, to adopt and implement a public policy to dismantle illegal armed groups.

To date, we have spent over £69 million through the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund to support the implementation of the Peace Agreement in Colombia and improve stability and security. Our funding is supporting the Colombian Government's rural development and reintegration programmes, transitional justice mechanisms, and strengthening the security and participation of communities in conflict-affected areas.