Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, for what reason Colombia was included in his Department's Human Rights and Democracy Report 2014, as a country of concern; and if he will make a statement.

Colombia was first included in the Human Rights and Democracy Report as a “Country of Concern” in 2001, primarily due to human rights abuses perpetrated by state and non-state actors involved in the ongoing internal conflict.

The Colombian government has committed to improving the human rights situation and has made some progress, for example through the creation of the National Protection Unit (NPU). However, significant challenges remain, not least in the number of threats to human rights defenders. President Santos has stated that the most effective way to improve human rights in the country is to make progress on a negotiated peace settlement and we strongly support the efforts of the negotiating team in Havana to achieve this objective.