Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The importance of protection for trade unionists and human rights defenders features prominently in our dialogue with the Colombian authorities. I raised it with the Vice President when I met him earlier this year. Our ambassador accredited to Colombia has also raised the issue, and that is ongoing. In the EU context, both Ireland and the EU believe that ensuring the safety of human rights defenders and protecting their rights is important. The issue of human rights and the need for Colombia to make further progress is a prominent aspect of the European Union's dialogue with Colombia, particularly in the context of the human rights clauses of the free trade agreement. There is an ongoing, structured human rights dialogue between the EU and Colombia. The seventh session of that took place in Bogotá in July last and in the course of that dialogue the EU raised, as one of its primary concerns, the treatment of human rights defenders.

I am aware of the establishment of the National Patriotic Council and the Patriotic March which took place in April to mark its foundation. The CPM movement is a group of civil society groups and activists and describes its focus as being that of achieving peace and social transformation through democratic means. The Irish Government supports representatives of civil society in Colombia in their efforts to address the legacy of conflict through democratic and peaceful means. Indeed, since 2009 the Irish Government, through Irish Aid, has provided non-governmental organisations, NGOs, and Irish missionaries working in Colombia with funding of approximately €3.5 million for projects in Colombia.

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