Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the UK-Colombia Investment treaty on the safety of human rights defenders in Colombia.

The UK continues to support the protection of human rights in Colombia, including by improving access to justice, protecting human rights defenders and promoting media freedom.

The UK-Colombia Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) includes binding investment protection provisions which protect both UK and Colombian investors against unfair and discriminatory treatment, and expropriation without adequate compensation. These commitments do not remove a government’s right to regulate in the public interest, nor its obligations to comply with other commitments, including with respect to human rights.