Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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859. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if Ireland plans to propose a review of Colombia with a specific focus on the prosecution of conflict-related sexual violence as recommended by the Informal Experts Group in July 2020. [40654/21]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Since taking up our seat on the UN Security Council on 1 January, Ireland has been active across the broad range of geographic and thematic issues on the Council agenda, including on Colombia, in line with the three core principles underpinning Ireland’s term: Building Peace; Strengthening Conflict Prevention; and Ensuring Accountability.

Ireland has long been a supporter of Colombia in its efforts and progress towards peace and our seat on the UN Security Council has allowed us to deepen our engagement at what is a crucial time for the Peace Process.

During the annual UN Security Council Open Debate on Conflict Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) in April, Ambassador Byrne Nason in her statement outlined Ireland’s strong position on the need to tackle CRSV and the belief that the Security Council must fully implement the recommendations of the Informal Expert Group (IEG) on Women, Peace and Security. Ireland in January took up the position of co-chair of the IEG with Mexico and will work to ensure follow-up to recommendations put forward in this regard.

In Ireland’s statements to the Security Council on Colombia this year, we have consistently called for the full implementation of the peace agreement, particularly the provisions on gender and ethnicity in line with the UN Secretary-General’s recommendation on Colombia in his Annual Report on Conflict Related Sexual Violence in March 2021.

In the statements, we also reaffirmed our strong support for the peace process and commended Colombia for the progress made to date, particularly on truth, justice and reconciliation efforts. We encouraged full implementation across all aspects of the peace agreement and raised concerns regarding the persistently high levels of violence experienced by social leaders and human rights defenders.

Ireland participated in the most recent Council Quarterly Briefing on Colombia on 13 July, and we are pleased that the Council agreed a press statement on 16 July, reiterating full and unanimous support for the peace process, and concern at persistent attacks against community and social leaders.

The IEG recommended in its report to the Council in September 2020 that Security Council members should support the advocacy of women’s civil society organisations with regard to opening a case on CRSV with the Colombian Special Jurisdiction for Peace (SJP), and should continue to encourage the UN Verification Mission to report on CRSV as part of its mandate with regard to verification of reintegration and guarantees.

Our Embassy in Bogotá has been following up on the issues and these recommendations raised in the IEG report. From discussions with the SJP, it is clear that CRSV will be a transversal issue in all the macro-cases under its remit, particularly those with a geographic focus. CRSV is viewed as a fundamentally important issue and, in order to guarantee the full effectiveness of the transitional justice system in terms of reconciliation it must be visibly addressed. To that end, the Truth Commission has made it a priority and held its first public recognition event in 2019 on the subject. The Truth Commission is currently drafting the final report, due in November, and it is expected that CRSV will be treated as a transversal theme across the report, as well as forming a core component of the chapter on gender.

Given the ongoing work being undertaken on these recommendations, Ireland is not considering proposing a review at this time, but will continue to follow this issue closely in the coming months and will remain actively engaged on Colombia during our Council term.

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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860. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his Department has made an assessment of whether the excessive and disproportionate use of force and reported killings of civilian protestors in Colombia in recent months constitute a violation of Article 1 of the EU-Colombia free trade agreement; the steps Ireland has taken to assess human rights compliance under the agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40655/21]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department, including the Embassy of Ireland in Bogotá, closely monitors the human rights situation in Colombia and has been active, in co-ordination with our EU partners, in responding to human rights concerns that have emerged in Colombia in the context of the recent national strike.

I would like to express again my serious concern at the reported violence by the police in Colombia against protestors and observers, and also at attacks on the police themselves and police infrastructure, during the national strike. I trust that the Colombian authorities will fully investigate and bring those responsible for abuses or human rights violations to justice.

Earlier this month I had a phone call with the Vice-President and Foreign Minister of Colombia, Marta Ramirez, during which we discussed these issues and concerns.

High-level Political Dialogues between the EU and Colombia take place on a regular basis and human rights issues of concern are raised. The 6th High-Level Political Dialogue took place in December 2020 and discussed peacebuilding, stabilisation, human rights defenders and ex-combatants among other issues.

The human rights situation in Colombia is closely linked to the implementation of the peace agreement and Ireland supports the Colombian Government’s full implementation of these accords. Between 2016 and 2021, Ireland provided more than €13 million in funding to Colombia in areas such as human rights, conflict prevention and peacebuilding. We also continue to deepen our lesson-sharing programme based on the experience in Northern Ireland.

My Department will continue to closely monitor the human rights situation in Colombia,

There is no consideration at EU level of any invoking of a possible violation of Article 1 of the EU-Colombia trade agreement. As the Deputy will be aware, matters relating to trade agreements are the responsibility of my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.