Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received on (a) the shooting dead in Buenaventura, Colombia, on 20 July 2015, of two boys by paramilitary gangs and (b) how it was possible for those shootings to take place in a street heavily supervised by the Colombian armed forces; and if he will make representations to the Colombian authorities on that matter.

Our Embassy in Bogotá has received reports on this tragic incident in Buenaventura from seven UK and international civil society organisations.

On 3 August, the UK and other Member States represented in Colombia wrote collectively to the Presidential Adviser on Human Rights, Guillermo Rivera, urging the government to investigate the events thoroughly, uphold their duty to protect the humanitarian zone and ensure that victims are adequately protected.