Colombia (Hansard, 20 July 2001)

§ Jeremy Corbyn
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations have been made to the Government of Colombia concerning Human Rights abuses and land ownership; and if he will make a statement. [5924]

§ Mr. MacShane
We have a regular and on-going dialogue with the Colombian Government about the human rights situation in Colombia. Most recently, British Embassy officials in Bogota raised our concerns about the vulnerability of the peace communities in the Department of Choco with the Human Rights Unit of the Vice Presidency's office (on 16 July 2001), and HM Ambassador wrote to the Vice Presidency on 4 July about the disappearance and murder of indigenous leaders in Cauca, expressing his concern and asking the Colombian authorities to investigate and prevent a repetition. In June 2001, the UK and its EU partners strongly supported the proposal of an expanded International Labour Organisation mandate and presence in Colombia to report on trade union rights and the security of trade union members to verify measures taken by the Colombian Government to protect them. This solution was fully endorsed by the Workers Group, the Colombian Government and all the other parties. We regularly discuss forced displacement and the problems it causes; we have made no recent representations to the Colombian Government specifically about land ownership.

§ Jeremy Corbyn
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what has been the UK financial contribution to Plan Colombia; and what is planned in the current year. [5923]

§ Mr. MacShane
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Newport, West (Paul Flynn) on 9 July 2001,Official Report, column 351W.

§ Jeremy Corbyn
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the total UK diplomatic and military presence is in Colombia for the latest available date. [5922]

§ Mr. MacShane
There are 30 UK Diplomatic and military staff accredited in Colombia. This includes the Defence Attaché, his two assistants and the Head of Security at the British Embassy. As at 18 July 2001, 22 of these staff were in Colombia; there are no other UK military personnel in Colombia.