Letter to the Chairman of the Committee
from Jim Sheridan MP, Ian Davidson MP, Peter Kilfoyle MP, Andy
Love MP and Jim McGovern MP
FOREIGN OFFICE
ANNUAL HUMAN
RIGHTS REPORT:
COLOMBIA
We are writing in relation to the new inquiry
that the Foreign Affairs Select Committee is holding into the
Foreign Office's human rights report. Specifically I would like
to draw your attention to what I believe is a glaring omission
in the report in relation to the section on Colombia.
We recently visited Colombia and was able to meet
with political prisoners—that is civil society actors, such
as trade unionists and human rights defenders—who had been
imprisoned for long periods without having been put on trial,
let alone convicted of any crime.
These men and women, and there are many of them in
various Colombian jails, appear to have been jailed simply for
their opposition to the policies of the Colombian Government and
the conditions that they are hold in are, in many cases appalling.
We were shocked that the section of the FCO's
new report dealing with the human rights situation in Colombia
made no mention whatsoever of the plight of Colombia's political
prisoners, despite the fact that the theme comes up time and time
again elsewhere in the report in relation to other countries.
We would be most grateful if you and your colleges
on the Committee could include in your response to the FCO's new
report some mention of this issue along with a request to the
FCO to ensure that it is properly addressed in next year's report.
15 May 2009
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