§ Mr. Paul Goggins (Wythenshawe and Sale, East)A few weeks ago, in February, I visited Colombia as a member of an international delegation that included parliamentarians from seven European countries and representatives of Catholic non-governmental organisations based in Europe and north America. The visit was arranged by the Colombian Catholic Bishops Conference. I was nominated by the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development, the official Catholic aid agency for England and Wales, and an appropriate entry has been made on the register.
My hon. Friend the Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Mr. Browne) was also on the delegation, nominated by the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund. The purpose of the delegation was to witness at first hand the circumstances of the people of Colombia and to pay special attention to issues of human rights. We were also asked to monitor the impact of recent attempts by the Colombian president, Andres Pastrana, to initiate a new peace process.
I appreciate the opportunity to bring to the attention of the House some of the issues that were raised during our visit. Colombia is a complex place, full of paradoxes. It is a beautiful country, rich in natural resources, yet it is scarred by the effects of an internal armed conflict that has lasted for 40 years. It has an impressive economic record, yet more than half its people live in poverty.
On paper, Colombia is a model democracy, but in reality it is one of the most violent societies in the world. With a population of 35 million, it is estimated that, last year alone, more than 30,000 people were murdered. The majority of the killings resulted from street violence and delinquency but a substantial number were a result of the armed conflict.
There are two main guerrilla groups, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, and the National Liberation Army, or the ELN. They have been fighting successive Governments since the 1960s. In addition, there is the United Self Defence Groups of Colombia, an umbrella organisation of right-wing paramilitary groups, led by Carlos Castario. All three have substantial resources, derived in large part from drug trafficking. The state forces, ill equipped and largely conscripted, are simply unable to control them. The situation is further complicated by strong evidence of collusion between the paramilitaries and state forces.
The main victims of the armed conflict, much of which takes place in remote rural areas, are the people who have been displaced, forced to flee from their homes because of the violence. The images of the ethnic Albanians forced to flee Kosovo are fresh in our minds and have disturbed and angered us all. The experience of the displaced people of Colombia is also a shocking story. It is estimated that more than 1 million have been displaced by the violence in the past 10 years. The Colombian Government are more cautious about the figures, but they accept that about 350,000 people have been displaced in the past three years.
Members of the delegation visited several towns and cities in the north and north west of Colombia. Some went to Barrancabermeja and Cartagena. I was with the group 199 that visited Medellin and Quibdó. Quibdó is in a department called Chocó, an area rich in natural resources such as gold, silver and platinum. Importantly for the paramilitary and guerrilla forces, it also includes the strategically important gulf of Urabá, which provides a route in for arms and out for drugs.
With a population of about 30,000, Quibdó is the temporary home of four communities of displaced people, numbering 2,000 altogether and including 600 families. I met 400 of them—men, women and children—in a disused basketball stadium that had been their home for 27 months. Their mattresses and belongings were scattered around the areas where once spectators had cheered on their local team. In the time that we spent with them, we heard their testimony and witnessed, through a deeply moving dramatic presentation enacted by members of the community, exactly how the paramilitaries had forced them to flee.
The impact of displacement is unspeakable. It traumatises those involved. Family and community structures break down and people are left to live in deep poverty and insecurity. In theory, Colombian law 387 gives displaced people a right to health care, housing and education. In reality, the displaced people of Quibdó have been abandoned by both the local and the national authorities. Fortunately, they at least survive, thanks to the humanitarian support provided by the local church and international NGOs. In fact, much of the funding for that work comes from the European Union.
Some displaced people have formed themselves into what are known as communities of peace. They provide a neutral zone; their members are unarmed and do not support any of the military groups. They are a living symbol of what Colombia could be like if the war were brought to an end. It is pleasing to note that the peace communities have received financial support from our own Department for International Development.
The peace communities are under increasing attack, in particular from the paramilitaries, who accuse them of being in sympathy with the guerrillas. On Sunday 4 April, 10 men armed with guns and grenades walked in to the community of San José de Apartadó and assassinated three of its members. In the past two years, more than 50 of its members have been brutally murdered in similar fashion.
Last Wednesday, 7 April, 12 members of the peace community of San Francisco de Asís were kidnapped by the paramilitaries. On the following two days, the bodies of 11 of the kidnap victims were found. Some showed signs of torture; some had had their throats cut. Other communities face similar experiences. In Barrancabermeja, 10 people were killed only a week after we left. I learned only this morning that a further nine people were murdered there last week. For those left behind, there is fear, insecurity and often further displacement.
It is extremely worrying that those in the church and the NGOs who support communities of displaced people are also being accused by the paramilitaries of collusion with the guerrillas. Their staff are increasingly targeted and threatened. Some organisations have reported that they are being forced to limit the humanitarian assistance that they give.
The killings are not one-sided. The FARC and the ELN continue to carry out appalling atrocities, including the recent murder of three Americans working in support of 200 a community of indigenous Indians: a group that has been badly hit by the violence. This Monday, an internal flight to Bogotá was hijacked and the 46 people on board kidnapped. According to the latest information that we have, six hostages have been released but the rest are still missing. It is alleged that the action was carried out by the ELN. Every murder and kidnap of innocent civilians that takes place as a result of the armed conflict is wrong and should be condemned.
It is easy to be depressed about the level of violence in Colombia and the plight of the displaced people, but we should recognise that there are signs of hope. The strongest cause for optimism is the dignity and bravery of ordinary people, many of whom take extraordinary risks in the pursuit of justice and peace.
In a 1997 referendum, 10 million Colombians voted in favour of what is called the peace mandate. The Catholic Church has established the National Commission for Conciliation, a high-profile body dedicated to finding an end to the conflict. Crucially, last summer Colombia elected a new president, Andrés Pastrana, who has dedicated himself to the peace process.
Despite many obstacles and set backs, President Pastrana is striving to develop a dialogue with the FARC and the ELN. He has introduced a new military penal code to strengthen the integrity of the state forces and to break the connection with the paramilitaries. He has taken steps to strengthen the protection of human rights workers and backed measures to reduce the alarmingly high levels of impunity.
In an address that President Pastrana gave to the United Nations in January, he said:
Forced displacement, which has recently reached growing and complex proportions, requires special treatment. Every day hundreds of families find themselves adrift, homeless, with the uncertainty and anguish resulting from not having a roof to shelter them.Our aim is not limited to catering for their immediate need … we are particularly interested in guaranteeing their return home or their voluntary relocation in areas where they can lead a dignified life and give them development alternatives that will ensure lasting solutions.President Pastrana has also announced Plan Colombia—a $3.5 billion strategy aimed especially at supporting new, sustainable livelihoods in the most remote areas of Colombia. Tackling poverty must be high on the Colombian Government's agenda; as we heard on many of our visits, there can be no peace without justice, and there can be no justice while the gap between rich and poor remains so large. In his ambitious strategy for national renewal and reconciliation, President Pastrana seeks and deserves the support of the international community. However, he must demonstrate that he can turn his fine words into reality.I want to use the opportunity of this debate to ask my hon. Friend the Minister to make urgent representations to the Colombian Government with regard to displaced people and those who work in support of them. I ask him to remind President Pastrana of the commitments that he made in Geneva to take "emergency actions" and to "ensure lasting solutions". I ask my hon. Friend to prevail on the Colombian Government to guarantee the safety of unarmed civilians who live within communities of displaced people and of the staff of the NGOs and the church who are providing humanitarian aid.
Although I applaud the sincere efforts of President Pastrana to move along the road of peace, the guarantee of basic human rights cannot be separated from that search. 201 I hope that the president will make a breakthrough in his dialogue with the guerrillas, but true peace will come only when the ordinary people of Colombia can lead their lives without fear of murder, kidnap and displacement.
Of course we must also take action ourselves. I urge the Government to do all that they can to reduce the flow of arms to the guerrillas and paramilitary forces in Colombia. Most of those arms are made in, and sold from, the developed world. In addition, we must redouble our efforts to tackle cocaine and heroin abuse. The demand for those drugs in our country ultimately funds the war in Colombia.
I urge the Government to continue to support the work of NGOs in Colombia. During my visit, I felt extremely humble in the presence of so many people who take personal risks every day in the pursuit of justice and peace. They deserve our affirmation and encouragement. It is important that we continue to fund projects that not only give humanitarian assistance, but enhance the capacity of local communities to participate fully in the search for peace.
It was clear from what we heard during our visit that the British ambassador in Bogotá has already earned considerable respect during the short time that he has been there. He promised that he would visit Quibdó and find out about the plight of the displaced people there. I hope that, in due course, my hon. Friend the Minister will be able to report on the ambassador's visit and on any action taken as a result. Given the assurances made by Mr. Thorpe when we met him, I am sure that he will already be responding to the deteriorating situation in the Chocó region. Again, I urge my hon. Friend to impress on our ambassador the importance of UK involvement in initiatives that support the peace process.
I know that there are no easy answers to the conflict in Colombia, but I also know that the vast majority of people in Colombia want peace and it is our responsibility to do whatever we can to support them. The people of Colombia left a deep impression me, as I suspect that they did on my hon. Friend when he visited them. In that spirit, I look forward with great interest to his response.
§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Tony Lloyd)I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Wythenshawe and Sale, East (Mr. Goggins) for his speech. He spoke with the feeling and human compassion that epitomises his response to the world in general, but I know that he has been deeply moved by his recent experiences in Colombia. He raised a number of issues and I shall try to respond to his specific points.
It is precisely because the Government have a publicly stated commitment to pursue human rights globally that we have a specific obligation to pursue the search for improved human rights in Colombia. That is our foreign policy priority generally and it is an important plank specifically in our bilateral relationship with Colombia. We have already had significant exchanges with the previous Government, the present Government and a considerable number of other groups in Colombian society. We can achieve progress through the type of constructive dialogue in which my hon. Friend has taken part and we are anxious to ensure that our exchanges are productive and not merely an exchange of formalities.
202 My hon. Friend gave a fair account of the situation in Colombia. For several decades, that country has been beset by a three-way war in a state afflicted historically by a classic guerrilla movement of the left, of the type formerly seen in large parts of the world. Colombia is one of the few countries where that still exists as part of the political reality. However, in addition, there has been the rise of the perhaps even more unpleasant paramilitary groups during recent years. Such groups owe little to ideology, but a lot to banditry and the most brutal thuggery. My hon. Friend's accounts of some of the murders that took place recently are testimony of the vileness of those groups. The matter is further complicated by the fact that drugs fund a considerable level of activity by the paramilitaries and the guerrillas.
In that context, my hon. Friend refers to the fact that about a million people have been displaced. He is right to draw the attention of the House and to the people of this country to the reality of displacement. We know what displacement means from the recent harrowing scenes in Kosovo; the word does not merely describe people being asked to move home, it describes the forced uprooting of people from the communities—from towns, societies and families—that are their normal support. We know how horrendous that is in Kosovo. As my hon. Friend is aware, it is just as horrendous in Colombia because such displacement often occurs at the point of a gun or, at best, when fear becomes so overriding that the most logical decision is to flee.
According to the Colombian NGO, CODHES, 1998 saw the displacement of almost 10,000 people from their homes in the department of Chocó of which Quibdó is the capital. We are not clear how many of those were economic migrants, but it is true that significant numbers of people were displaced by violence between guerrillas, paramilitaries and the state. We have no specific numbers for those displaced in Quibdó rather than in Chocó as a whole, but our embassy in Bogotá estimates that the figure must be several thousand—my hon. Friend mentioned that several thousand people were living in the old stadium in Quibdó.
The increased guerrilla and paramilitary activity in Chocó, especially in the north of the department along the Atrato river, has been the major cause of that displacement in recent times. It has been a problem only during the past two years; as recently as 1996, there was no serious displacement problem in that area.
An additional problem is the difficulty of providing protection for the displaced people and the NGOs in Chocó. Chocó is a poor, remote and traditionally lawless part of Colombia. There are power struggles between the ELN and the paramilitaries and there is also a small FARC presence. The presence of those three groups makes safeguarding displaced people and NGOs extremely difficult. I, too, would like to pay tribute to the work of Peace Brigades International and to the bravery of the volunteers. Through their work, they are able to provide the sort of protection in Chocó, Uraba and elsewhere that the armed forces cannot provide. One of the tragedies of Colombia is that, as it is often described, it is a country without a state. Sometimes, that description is all too graphic an account of the way in which a state is not able to operate in the way that we would expect.
We have raised the issue of the safety of human rights workers with the Colombian Government on a number of occasions, both bilaterally and as part of the EU, and have 203 called for the implementation of measures to protect them. I have also raised specific cases on a number of occasions. I draw the House's attention to the cases of Mario Calderon, Elsa Alvarado and Carlos Alvarado who were brutally murdered in Colombia some time ago. That case has resulted in a lot of interest in the UK because the killers have not been brought to justice. There have been several arrests, but the problems in the Colombian judicial system mean that no one has been brought to trial yet. The most likely suspect is Castatño, the leader of one of the paramilitary groups, who is presumably immune from the process of justice to the extent that he is protected by that group. That is an outrage and a tragedy because the brutal murder of people who aimed to protect the innocent must be deplored. We must try to build a stronger structure in Colombia to deal with such cases.
Both national and local government have been able to provide only limited humanitarian assistance to people in Quibdó. In addition to being one of the poorest departments in Colombia, Chocó has severe problems of corruption and lack of finance. However, outside assistance is being provided to the department. The European Community Humanitarian Office provided emergency humanitarian assistance to 5,000 displaced people in Quibdó in 1998. It has also provided additional funding to assist displaced people more widely in Chocó this year, and a Spanish NGO has also provided about $280,000.
The UK is also playing its part in assisting the people of Quibdó. We have supported two projects aimed at the local community. The ambassador and embassy officials in Bogota often visit trouble spots, both at the invitation of interested parties and on their own initiative. A visit to the department of Chocó is high on the list of our embassy's priorities. I cannot give my hon. Friend a specific date for the visit, but it is likely to take place soon.
It would be of great benefit if the embassy were to travel as part of a European Union group, both in terms of staff safety and the visit's effect. A date for such a visit will be discussed at the EU heads of mission meeting due to take place in Bogota today. The main objective of a visit would be to assess the displaced problem as it currently stands and identify the best way to provide practical assistance.
I would also like to say a few words about displacement and the human rights situation in Colombia in more general terms. The Colombian Government have been engaged in peace talks with both the FARC and the ELN, but, sadly, the talks were suspended on 19 January by the FARC who demanded that the Government take action against right-wing paramilitaries before talks could be renewed. Although the paramilitaries operate autonomously and the Government have little control over their activities, there have recently been welcome signs of an increased determination by the Government to tackle the paramilitary problem. We hope that, when talks are resumed, they will lead to a meaningful settlement.
Significant problems continue to exist. My hon. Friend referred to Monday's hijacking of an Avianca Fokker aircraft on an internal flight. In addition to four non-Colombians—an Italian, an Ecuadorean, a United States citizen and the Hungarian pilot—there were children and nuns on board, a clear reminder that no one is safe from the internal problems that beset Colombia. The latest information that we have is that the hostages 204 were released unharmed and put on board a boat. That boat has left the immediate area, but, sadly, nothing more has been heard of them. Until they re-emerge, uncertainty about their fate remains.
On the whole, though, there are encouraging signs that the peace process, which represents the best prospect of significant improvement in human rights for all Colombians, is still in forward gear. We welcome and support President Pastrana's commitment to finding a lasting solution to Colombia's internal conflict. Following his election, and before he took over the presidency formally, one of President Pastrana's first actions was an almost sensational effort to meet guerrillas in Colombia to demonstrate his personal and passionate commitment to the peace process.
I have met the president—and his special representative on peace—and I am convinced of his ambition to drive the peace process forward as one of his Government's highest priorities. We are encouraged by dialogue that has taken place between the Colombian Government and the various parties to the conflict.
There have also been signs that the Colombian Government have begun to address the serious problems of internal displacement, a point that my hon. Friend asked me to raise with them. A presidential adviser on displaced people has been appointed and is working with the office that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has established in Colombia. The UK has contributed £200,000 to the running of that office.
In addition, and partly in response to international pressures, there are signs that the Colombian Government have begun to address the problem of the paramilitaries. It is a matter of record that there has in the past been clear collusion between members of the armed forces and the paramilitaries in Colombia. I have met the head of the Colombian armed forces, who clearly desires to distance the forces from the paramilitaries and to act against those in the forces who have any degree of collusion and complicity. That is welcome.
Recently, several senior army officers have been compulsorily retired for alleged links with paramilitaries, and, as recently as last week, an army colonel was arrested on charges of alleged involvement in a paramilitary massacre in July 1997. Although that shows the historic complicity of the army in human rights abuses, it also shows a determination on the part of the prosecution service and the armed forces high command to investigate such incidents and to bring the perpetrators to justice.
I raised that matter with President Pastrana, who made it clear that he is determined to root out of the armed forces those responsible for those incidents. He personally appointed the current head of the armed forces, whom he trusts and whom he hopes will solve the problems of the armed forces. Those are steps in the right direction, although I cannot tell my hon. Friend or the House that there is not still a long way to go.
Our commitment to the search for peace is absolute, and our objective is to ensure that human rights remains at the top of the Colombian agenda. We can achieve that by engaging the Colombian Government in dialogue at every opportunity. As a sign of our commitment, we support a number of grass roots initiatives designed to 205 promote respect for human rights. Our embassy is in frequent and detailed contact with NGOs and large sections of Colombian society.
§ Mrs. Gwyneth Dunwoody (Crewe and Nantwich)With the permission of my hon. Friend the Member for Wythenshawe and Sale, East (Mr. Goggins), whose debate this is, may I say that the British embassy and our ambassadors have an honourable record in Colombia in supporting useful schemes? Can the Minister assure us that the embassy may have an increased fund, because its work on the ground has made a difference in the past and may do so again in future?
§ Mr. LloydMy hon. Friend has a strong interest in Colombia, and she and I have discussed the subject several times. The Government have introduced a human rights fund administered by the Foreign Office that allows us to fund directly the kind of activity so desperately needed in Colombia. We support the worthwhile projects to which my hon. Friend referred, and we shall continue to do so, partly because the exchange with NGOs gives 206 protection to brave people who are potential victims of the ruthless, evil people who sometimes populate Colombian politics.
The British Government take every opportunity to raise our concerns with the Colombian Government. We regularly remind them of the strength of feeling in Britain about human rights, both in general and over specific issues. I know that President Pastrana is committed to the human rights agenda, and the appointment of Vice President Bell as the Minister for Human Rights is a significant gesture. I will meet Vice President Bell on 27 April, during his visit to the UK, and I will again take the opportunity to raise the issues that concern both my hon. Friends.
The Government will continue to monitor the situation in Colombia and take a real interest in that country's development. It matters in the same way as Kosovo does—because our fellow human beings are suffering dreadfully. We have a responsibility to play our part in resolving their problems.
§ It being Two o'clock, the motion for the Adjournment of the House lapsed, without Question put.
§ Sitting suspended, pursuant to Standing Order No. 10 (Wednesday sittings), till half-past Two o'clock.