Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have an opportunity to discuss this motion. It is good to see an in-depth debate on issues related to business, trade and human rights. From Ireland's viewpoint, it is important for us to engage in such a discussion. In fact, I would like to have seen a longer period for this debate because there is huge interest in the issue.

I am very much in favour of good trade, political and diplomatic relations with all of the Latin American countries, including in this case Colombia and Peru. I acknowledge that certain progress has been made concerning the peace process under the Santos Government in Colombia. A recent report from the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights has indicated some progress in the area of human rights, but I also know that the situation remains dire. We have all received communications from the trade union movement, which has taken a strong interest in the matter, and from NGOs.

Many Irish NGOs that are engaged in this area have briefed us on the progress made in recent years. People in the area, particularly those who are indigenous to it, have been discriminated against. As previous speakers indicated, it remains the most dangerous place in the world in which to be a trade unionist. It is a sad fact that this remains the case, even under the new Government. The fact that 26 Colombian trade unionists were murdered in 2013 - a total of 73 have been killed during the past three years - is outrageous. Colombia is also the most dangerous place in the world for human rights defenders, with 78 such individuals killed there in 2013. A further 30 human rights defenders were killed in Colombia in the first six months of last year. A total of 5.5 million people in the country have been displaced and literally hundreds of thousands have been killed during the conflict.

There is some hope, and we must examine the matter in that context. We must also consider it in the context of the European Union. What is the European Union and how was it founded? The answer is that it was brought into being in the aftermath of the worst atrocity ever committed in the history of mankind, namely, the Holocaust, which we are commemorating this week.

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