Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the human rights situation in Colombia.

Colombia is named as a priority country in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s (FCO) Annual Human Rights and Democracy Report.

Human rights violations and abuses remain a concern, including sexual violence, internal displacement, forced disappearances and targeting of HRDs. I am concerned at reports that 63 HRDs were killed in 2015, a 13% increase from 2014. I raised this issue with President Santos on 12 May.

The FCO publishes twice-yearly updates on the human rights situation in Colombia on the Gov.uk website. The most recent report cann be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/colombia-in-year-update-december-2015.

I welcome the Colombian Government's genuine effort to address human rights concerns. We support their efforts and have prioritised the protection of human rights defenders; the promotion of business and human rights; and the Preventing Sexual Violence Iniative (PSVI). We helped Colombia draft its National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, published in December, the first outside Europe.

We are committed to supporting Colombia as part of the ongoing peace process negotiations to ensure the safety of its people and long term stability across the country.