House of Commons

On my way to Colombia, I stopped off at the House of Commons in London for the parliamentary launch of ‘Fit for Purpose: How to make UK Policy on Colombia More Effective’. The document written by members of the advocacy platform ABColombia, calls on the UK government to play a greater role in reducing poverty and place greater emphasis on promoting human rights in Colombia. SCIAF is a member of ABColombia along with CAFOD, Trocaire, Christian Aid and Oxfam GB. Our partner organisations know the harsh realities that Colombian people face better than anyone and this advocacy work is a crucial part of our partnership with them.

Millions of Colombians face extreme poverty, violence and daily human rights violations. During almost 50 years of armed conflict, almost four million men, women and children have fled their homes to escape the fighting - placing Colombia second only to Sudan in terms of displaced people. Colombia has the highest number of landmine victims in the world and human rights campaigners calling for social justice are often threatened and killed.

A shared recommendation of the ABColombia members is that, if the UK wants to promote human rights in Colombia and reduce the amount of Colombian cocaine reaching our shores, it needs to focus more on promoting policies that reduce poverty and social injustice. Colombia’s extreme inequality is at the root of the on-going conflict. This inequality is also a major driving force in the cocaine trade which claims thousands of lives every year across Colombia and supplies nearly all of the cocaine that arrives in the UK. ABColombia is also lobbying the UK government to renew and redouble its efforts to support the defence of human rights in the country.

Among the ten MPs and Lords who attended the launch were Gillian Merron, the new Parliamentary Under Secretary for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with responsibility for Latin America, and the Colombian Ambassador to the UK, Noemi Sanin Posada.

There were full responses from the invited speakers and there is definitely scope to push forward our recommendations. All of the ABColombia members will continue to lobby the UK and Colombian governments for these changes. Our partner organisations know the harsh realities that Colombian people face better than anyone and this advocacy work is a crucial part of our partnership with them.

Click here to download a copy of the report