Douglas Alexander – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Alexander on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what meetings he has had with (a) representatives of the Colombian government, (b) Colombian civil society and (c) Colombian businesses to discuss his Department’s Action Plan on Business and Human Rights since its launch in September 2013.

Mr William Hague

I visited Colombia in February this year and discussed business and human rights in my meetings with President Santos, and in meetings with the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Finance and Trade, and with civil society. I welcomed the development of the Colombian national policy on business and human rights during these meetings and raised the importance of protecting Trade Unionists and human rights defenders. We have a strong partnership with the government of Colombia on implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, in the context of the November 2011 Joint Declaration on Human Rights by the Prime Minister and President Santos.

In addition, British Embassy officials in Bogota have had several meetings with the Colombian government, civil society and businesses in Colombia to discuss the UK Action plan on business and human rights in line with our commitment to working for widespread international uptake of the UN Guiding Principles and to developing partnerships with other countries to progress this.

Last year, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office funded a project to assist Colombia in drafting its national policy. The Colombian public policy on business and human rights has been formed as a result of consultation across 33 regions and involving over 19,000 people.