Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)

It is fair to say that there is a challenge here in terms of balancing the need to provide an incentive to Governments such as the Colombian Government to make progress on human rights issues while being conscious that we cannot turn a blind eye. In fairness, the European Union and the Government, in feeding into that process in our engagement with the Commission, and at Council level, have made a robust and clear statement on how we want to see human rights promoted and protected within the parameters of the agreement.

There is a substantial and robust human rights clause in the first article of the trade agreement which has the potential to contribute to the enhancement and protection of human rights in the future. I certainly consider that to be a more constructive, engaged and, hopefully, productive approach than simply wringing our hands and aspiring to an improvement in the human rights situation but actually not being able to do anything tangible about it.

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