VIOLENCE AGAINST COMMUNITIES IN COLOMBIA SEEKING LAND RESTITUTION

That this House welcomes the Victims and Land Restitution Law in Colombia; notes with concern, however, the escalation of violence against communities seeking land restitution; further notes that in several cases this is due to the implementation of development projects involving foreign businesses and the production of agro-industrial crops for export; is alarmed by reports of violence against several communities in the process of land reclamation, notably the Afro-Colombian communities of Curvaradó, Cacarica and COCOMOPOCA and small-scale farming communities of Pitalito and Las Pabas, including reports that shots were fired at members of the Pitalito community, their leaders and lawyer; also notes with concern the escalation of threats against the human rights organisation, the Inter-Church Commission for Justice and Peace (Comision Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz), particularly in the context of increased killings of human rights defenders in Colombia; therefore calls on the Colombian government to provide adequate security and protection for communities, leaders and human rights defenders; and further calls on the Government to raise these concerns with the Colombian government and to report in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office annual Human Rights Report on the implementation of UN due diligence criteria by British businesses in Colombia in relation to land, in compliance with the UK Action Plan on Business and Human Rights; and urges the UK Embassy in Colombia to meet, monitor and report on the aforementioned communities.