Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assistance and support they have provided to the government of Colombia and relevant organisations to protect human rights defenders in Colombia; and what assessment they have made of protection measures for those defenders.

Through projects delivered by the British Embassy in Bogota, the UK has supported training in individual and collective protection measures for human rights defenders. The UK has also supported the work of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Colombia, which monitors the human rights situation and works closely with the civil society. On 20 December 2017, the Minister for Europe and the Americas announced that the OHCHR would benefit by £400,000 from a package of additional UK financial support to the Peace Process in Colombia.