Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the recent reports that 65 environmental defenders were murdered in Colombia in 2020.

The British Government remains concerned about the persistent level of violence towards human rights defenders and environmental activists in Colombia. Colombia is a UK Government 'Human Rights Priority Country' - UK ministers and senior officials regularly raise human rights issues, as well as specific cases of concern, with the Colombian Government, and in multilateral fora. Most recently, as the UK's Minister for Europe and Americas, I spoke to Vice President Ramírez regarding the human rights situation on a visit to Colombia from 22-24 November.

Through our Conflict, Stability, and Security Fund (CSSF) programme, which has provided £68 million in support of peace agreement implementation, security, and stability in Colombia since 2015, we will continue to prioritise funding interventions to protect human rights defenders, including environmental activists, and social leaders.