“Human rights protection at home and abroad: lessons to be learned from the Colombian peace process”, 11 Jul 2017

Human rights abuses in Colombia can serve as a stark reminder of what the UK has to lose. 

…[During] a recent visit which my colleague Elisabeth Andresen and I made to Colombia as part of the fifth biennial visit of the International Caravana of Jurists (the 'Colombia Caravana'). Along with 53 other lawyers and judges from 10 different countries around the world, we visited seven regions of the country and the capital, Bogotá, in order to record testimony from human rights defenders and victims of human rights abuses…One of the things that struck me most during our visit was the threats and stigmatisation faced by Colombian human rights lawyers and defenders…[like] Rommel Durán Castellanos, a human rights lawyer from the organisation Equipo Juridico Pueblos in Bucaramanga [who] has faced arbitrary arrest and threats to his life as a result of the work that he undertakes on behalf of forcibly displaced communities and other victims of human rights abuses…I heard worrying testimony of paramilitary groups being used by multinational corporations to pursue their investment interests…environmental damage being caused by investment projects; widespread land-grabbing, displacement and threats to local communities. It has also been reported that over 50 companies may be charged with financing the largest paramilitary group in recent Colombian history, the AUC, as part of the transitional justice process…Multinationals must ensure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses and that they comply with their obligations to respect human rights, as set out in international instruments such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights…