Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent reports he has received on human rights abuses in Colombia.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) and non-government organisations (NGOs), such as Amnesty International, regularly report on the human rights situation in Colombia.

Our officials received an update of figures from the Office of the UNHCHR on 22 June, when they reported that 21 human rights defenders (HRDs) had been murdered this year. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) will publish its in-year update to the annual Human Rights Report on Colombia later this month. This will contain the most recent data collected from a wide range of official sources, such as Human Rights Watch and other NGOs, as well as the UNHCHR.

The FCO will publish its in-year Human Rights update on Colombia later this month. It will include a thorough update on the human rights situation in the country, with data regarding human rights abuses threats made against HRDs, journalists and trade unionists, minority and women’s rights and other issues. Once published, this report will be available on the FCO’s website at www.gov.uk/government/publications/colombia-country-of-concern/colombia-country-of-concern.