Britain’s minister for Latin America, the Colombian ambassador and British parliamentarians welcomed ABColombia’s policy document Fit for Purpose: How to Make UK Policy on Colombia More Effective at its launch in the British House of Commons on Tuesday 17 March 2009.

Ten MPs and peers from all political parties came to discuss ABColombia’s questions about UK policy on Colombia in a meeting hosted by ABColombia and the All-Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group (“PHRG”). They were joined by parliamentary researchers representing another three parliamentarians and staff of civil society organisations, trade unionists, academics and civil servants, leaving standing room only in Committee Room 19.

Robert Walter MP, chairing the event for the PHRG, welcomed the “opportunity to reinvigorate a group of all-party MPs and Lords interested in Colombia and present the report of the leading British and Irish agencies working in Colombia on the situation in Colombia and what the UK government should be doing.”

Sophie Haspeslagh, ABColombia Programme and Advocacy Manager, presented the report and argued that in order for the UK to achieve its stated objectives in Colombia, it should:
1. Increase its focus on poverty and inequality;
2. Reinforce its support for human rights defenders;
3. Ensure that the UK and European Union businesses in Colombia support human rights and poverty reduction;
4. Make military assistance to Colombia transparent. 

Full article: www.abcolombia.org.uk/subpage.asp

Document: www.abcolombia.org.uk/downloads/9DB_Fit_for_Purpose_17.03.09.pdf