Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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I thank our contributors today from Justice for Colombia. I will get down to the brass tacks of the issues impacting Colombia. President Petro has made some recent statements in relation to the drugs trade and its impact on Colombia. Can Mr. Dodwell go into some of the international complicity in terms of the drugs trade? When you are in Colombia, you cannot help but notice that many of Colombia's problems are ones that are forced on them by the international community. Will Mr. Dodwell talk to the committee about the new Colombian President, the international drug trade and its responsibility for what is happening in Colombia?

Deputy Brady mentioned the Cerrejón mine which we have all taken an interest in, although there are other mines in Colombia as well. Colombia's climate action plans for 2030 are very ambitions. What types of climate transitions has Mr. Dodwell noticed are in place? I am very conscious of what will replace these mines when they close as they should. The mine I am familiar with, the Cerrejón mine, is a big gaping hole in the middle of the ground that has engulfed the communities around it and caused child malnutrition for their inhabitants. What sort of transitional justice and reparations should those communities expect? What are the international obligations on those of us who have taken from that mine, in terms of putting something back after it is gone, be it resources or any sort of support?

When the peace plan come in six years ago, I noticed that groups like FARC could choose settlements which involved getting a form of stipend that I believe was approximately €800 per person. It was never really factored in that once the peace happened, those groups would start having children, as people tend to do. They have not been given any other form of payment to compensate for the fact that they now have families that are growing. There is a level of enforced poverty happening there that threatens the peace. Can we take a bit more of an interest in that? What can we do in terms of encouraging the peace process and those agreements made six years ago, which probably have to be built on due to unforeseen things? What can we learn from the truth and justice programmes that are happening in Colombia? It is a country of 70 million people. It has a very ambitious peace programme and has just released the truth commission report. I am very conscious we have not done anything to that scale for our own conflict. What lessons can we learn from Colombia in relation to how they have undertaken their peace programmes?

I would like to comment on the gender-related aspects of the peace process. There is much talk about restorative justice in relation to murder. Are sexual assault crimes against women factored into the peace process? The indigenous courts are hugely important in Colombia and should be protected at all costs, but some members of the indigenous community feel that the gendered nature of the courts acts against women there. Can Mr. Dodwell comment on that, especially in relation to sexual abuse crimes?

Following on from Deputy Brady's comment, there may be a delegation from this committee going to Colombia. I do not want anyone from this committee going on a trip to beautiful Colombia like something from a sunny brochure. There are so many parts of it. If a delegation goes to Colombia, what does Mr. Dodwell think we should see?