1.44 pm

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Tony Lloyd): I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Wythenshawe and Sale, East (Mr. Goggins) for his speech. He spoke with the feeling and human compassion that epitomises his response to the world in general, but I know that he has been deeply moved by his recent experiences in Colombia. He raised a number of issues and I shall try to respond to his specific points.

It is precisely because the Government have a publicly stated commitment to pursue human rights globally that we have a specific obligation to pursue the search for improved human rights in Colombia. That is our foreign policy priority generally and it is an important plank specifically in our bilateral relationship with Colombia. We have already had significant exchanges with the previous Government, the present Government and a considerable number of other groups in Colombian society. We can achieve progress through the type of constructive dialogue in which my hon. Friend has taken part and we are anxious to ensure that our exchanges are productive and not merely an exchange of formalities.

14 Apr 1999 : Column 202

My hon. Friend gave a fair account of the situation in Colombia. For several decades, that country has been beset by a three-way war in a state afflicted historically by a classic guerrilla movement of the left, of the type formerly seen in large parts of the world. Colombia is one of the few countries where that still exists as part of the political reality. However, in addition, there has been the rise of the perhaps even more unpleasant paramilitary groups during recent years. Such groups owe little to ideology, but a lot to banditry and the most brutal thuggery. My hon. Friend's accounts of some of the murders that took place recently are testimony of the vileness of those groups. The matter is further complicated by the fact that drugs fund a considerable level of activity by the paramilitaries and the guerrillas.

In that context, my hon. Friend refers to the fact that about a million people have been displaced. He is right to draw the attention of the House and to the people of this country to the reality of displacement. We know what displacement means from the recent harrowing scenes in Kosovo; the word does not merely describe people being asked to move home, it describes the forced uprooting of people from the communities--from towns, societies and families--that are their normal support. We know how horrendous that is in Kosovo. As my hon. Friend is aware, it is just as horrendous in Colombia because such displacement often occurs at the point of a gun or, at best, when fear becomes so overriding that the most logical decision is to flee.

According to the Colombian NGO, CODHES, 1998 saw the displacement of almost 10,000 people from their homes in the department of Choco, of which Quibdo is the capital. We are not clear how many of those were economic migrants, but it is true that significant numbers of people were displaced by violence between guerrillas, paramilitaries and the state. We have no specific numbers for those displaced in Quibdo rather than in Choco as a whole, but our embassy in Bogota estimates that the figure must be several thousand--my hon. Friend mentioned that several thousand people were living in the old stadium in Quibdo.

The increased guerrilla and paramilitary activity in Choco, especially in the north of the department along the Atrato river, has been the major cause of that displacement in recent times. It has been a problem only during the past two years; as recently as 1996, there was no serious displacement problem in that area.

An additional problem is the difficulty of providing protection for the displaced people and the NGOs in Choco. Choco is a poor, remote and traditionally lawless part of Colombia. There are power struggles between the ELN and the paramilitaries and there is also a small FARC presence. The presence of those three groups makes safeguarding displaced people and NGOs extremely difficult. I, too, would like to pay tribute to the work of Peace Brigades International and to the bravery of the volunteers. Through their work, they are able to provide the sort of protection in Choco, Uraba and elsewhere that the armed forces cannot provide. One of the tragedies of Colombia is that, as it is often described, it is a country without a state. Sometimes, that description is all too graphic an account of the way in which a state is not able to operate in the way that we would expect.

We have raised the issue of the safety of human rights workers with the Colombian Government on a number of occasions, both bilaterally and as part of the EU, and have

14 Apr 1999 : Column 203

Both national and local government have been able to provide only limited humanitarian assistance to people in Quibdo. In addition to being one of the poorest departments in Colombia, Choco has severe problems of corruption and lack of finance. However, outside assistance is being provided to the department. The European Community Humanitarian Office provided emergency humanitarian assistance to 5,000 displaced people in Quibdo in 1998. It has also provided additional funding to assist displaced people more widely in Choco this year, and a Spanish NGO has also provided about $280,000.

The UK is also playing its part in assisting the people of Quibdo. We have supported two projects aimed at the local community. The ambassador and embassy officials in Bogota often visit trouble spots, both at the invitation of interested parties and on their own initiative. A visit to the department of Choco is high on the list of our embassy's priorities. I cannot give my hon. Friend a specific date for the visit, but it is likely to take place soon.

It would be of great benefit if the embassy were to travel as part of a European Union group, both in terms of staff safety and the visit's effect. A date for such a visit will be discussed at the EU heads of mission meeting due to take place in Bogota today. The main objective of a visit would be to assess the displaced problem as it currently stands and identify the best way to provide practical assistance.

I would also like to say a few words about displacement and the human rights situation in Colombia in more general terms. The Colombian Government have been engaged in peace talks with both the FARC and the ELN, but, sadly, the talks were suspended on 19 January by the FARC who demanded that the Government take action against right-wing paramilitaries before talks couldbe renewed. Although the paramilitaries operate autonomously and the Government have little control over their activities, there have recently been welcome signs of an increased determination by the Government to tackle the paramilitary problem. We hope that, when talks are resumed, they will lead to a meaningful settlement.

Significant problems continue to exist. My hon. Friend referred to Monday's hijacking of an Avianca Fokker aircraft on an internal flight. In addition to four non-Colombians--an Italian, an Ecuadorean, a United States citizen and the Hungarian pilot--there were children and nuns on board, a clear reminder that no one is safe from the internal problems that beset Colombia. The latest information that we have is that the hostages

14 Apr 1999 : Column 204

On the whole, though, there are encouraging signs that the peace process, which represents the best prospect of significant improvement in human rights for all Colombians, is still in forward gear. We welcome and support President Pastrana's commitment to finding a lasting solution to Colombia's internal conflict. Following his election, and before he took over the presidency formally, one of President Pastrana's first actions was an almost sensational effort to meet guerrillas in Colombia to demonstrate his personal and passionate commitment to the peace process.

I have met the president--and his special representative on peace--and I am convinced of his ambition to drive the peace process forward as one of his Government's highest priorities. We are encouraged by dialogue that has taken place between the Colombian Government and the various parties to the conflict.

There have also been signs that the Colombian Government have begun to address the serious problems of internal displacement, a point that my hon. Friend asked me to raise with them. A presidential adviser on displaced people has been appointed and is working with the office that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has established in Colombia. The UK has contributed £200,000 to the running of that office.

In addition, and partly in response to international pressures, there are signs that the Colombian Government have begun to address the problem of the paramilitaries. It is a matter of record that there has in the past been clear collusion between members of the armed forces and the paramilitaries in Colombia. I have met the head of the Colombian armed forces, who clearly desires to distance the forces from the paramilitaries and to act against those in the forces who have any degree of collusion and complicity. That is welcome.

Recently, several senior army officers have been compulsorily retired for alleged links with paramilitaries, and, as recently as last week, an army colonel was arrested on charges of alleged involvement in a paramilitary massacre in July 1997. Although that shows the historic complicity of the army in human rights abuses, it also shows a determination on the part of the prosecution service and the armed forces high command to investigate such incidents and to bring the perpetrators to justice.

I raised that matter with President Pastrana, who made it clear that he is determined to root out of the armed forces those responsible for those incidents. He personally appointed the current head of the armed forces, whom he trusts and whom he hopes will solve the problems of the armed forces. Those are steps in the right direction, although I cannot tell my hon. Friend or the House that there is not still a long way to go.

Our commitment to the search for peace is absolute, and our objective is to ensure that human rights remains at the top of the Colombian agenda. We can achieve that by engaging the Colombian Government in dialogue at every opportunity. As a sign of our commitment, we support a number of grass roots initiatives designed to

14 Apr 1999 : Column 205