Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the briefing by the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, People power under pressure: Human rights defenders & business in 2023, published on 7 May, and its finding that Colombia ranked 8th of the countries that had the highest numbers of attacks on human rights defenders challenging corporate harm in 2023; and what action, if any, they plan to take in response to that finding.

The UK is committed to promoting responsible corporate behaviour by companies overseas and supporting the implementation of the Voluntary Principles on Human Rights. We remain concerned at the worrying rate of murders of, and threats against, human rights defenders and social leaders in Colombia. In March, Minister Rutley met with the Colombian Vice Foreign Minister to raise our concern over attacks on human rights defenders and reiterate our commitment to supporting efforts to tackle the root causes of violence in Colombia. At the UN Security Council meeting on Colombia in April, we set out our commitment to supporting efforts to tackle the root causes of violence in Colombia.