Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the National Crime Agency is able to (a) vet policing personnel to be trained in Colombia and (b) monitor policing personnel already trained in Colombia to ensure they are not responsible for any future serious human rights violations including extra-judicial killings, disappearances and torture.

The NCA works with law enforcement partners around the world. In Colombia, the Agency works with the Colombian National Police and the Office of the Attorney General of Colombia. This activity is focused on reducing the threat to the UK from the cocaine trade in Colombia and the region, as well as disrupting the money laundering and other criminal economies linked to drugs trafficking and other organised crime.

When cooperating and sharing intelligence with its international law enforcement partners, the National Crime Agency must comply with the Overseas Security and Justice Assistance guidance, which enables assessments to be made about the human rights and reputational risks of international security and justice work undertaken by the UK. It is also subject to the Principles relating to the detention and interviewing of detainees overseas and the passing and receipt of intelligence relating to detainees.