Colombia (Hansard, 6 November 2003)

§ Lynne Jones
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the number of human rights violations, broken down by(a) murders, (b) kidnappings and (c) death threats each year in Colombia under the (i) Pastrana and (ii) Uribe administrations. [136309]

§ Mr. Rammell
We see many reports on the human rights situation in Colombia each year from nongovernmental organisations, international bodies and foreign governments. These reports have different methods of collating and presenting their data, so a consensus of figures of the particular categories mentioned by my hon. Friend is difficult to come by. Detailed reports are available on the following websites.UNHCHR http://www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/TestFrame/1304674285b7eb3bcl256cf5003906fb?Opendocument US State Department http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2002/18325.htm Amnesty International http://web.amnesty.org/report2003/col-summary-eng Human Rights Watch http://hrw.org/wr2k3/americas4.html
The issues highlighted in these reports are of great concern to us. We raise these regularly with the Colombian Government. I recently did so when I met the Colombian Foreign Minister in New York on 23 September. We will continue to work closely with the Colombian Government, EU partners and others to tackle the problems.

§ Mr. Soley
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assistance he is giving to the Colombian Government on human rights issues. [136561]

§ Mr. Rammell
Our human rights assistance for Colombia addresses the key problems of violence, displacement, children's and women's rights, impunity and the guarantee of fundamental human rights freedoms. Projects include provision of human rights training for the Colombian armed forces; encouraging greater attention to the rights of displaced women, adolescents and girls; strengthening Colombian NGOs; rehabilitation of child soldiers; helping street children out of their negative environment; provision of political and financial support to the work of the UNHCHR office in Bogota and to the Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on Colombia. We also contribute to the EU's programme of assistance of Euro 330 million over the period 2001–06 (which includes assistance on human rights).