Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will publish a response to EDM 645 on Protection and support for environmental human rights defenders.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office regularly raises freedom of expression with the Government of Guatemala. We work in conjunction with other international partners with the aim of promoting full respect for human rights for all.

The British Embassy in Guatemala has paid close attention to the cases of individual human rights defenders in Guatemala, particularly the case of Bernardo Caal. Officials from the Embassy virtually attended Mr Caal's hearing in May, following a visit to him in 2018, as well as undertaking a visit in 2017 to the Oxec Hydro Power Complex, located on the river which Mr Caal was defending. The British Embassy has also called on the Presidential Commission for Peace and Human Rights on several occasions. During these calls, the Embassy has raised the issues of freedom of expression, media freedom, human rights and land defenders and progress on the Public Policy for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders in Guatemala.