Columbia
John Bercow highlights the plight of journalists who - along with other groups - are being singled out for abduction, torture and slaughter in Columbia.
John Bercow (Buckingham) (Con): Further to the earlier question of the hon. Member for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock (Sandra Osborne) about Colombia, will the Foreign Secretary or the Under-Secretary of State say a little more about the particular categories of civilians being singled out for abduction, torture and slaughter? Reference was made by a number of hon. Members to trade unions, but am I not right in thinking that also very prominent on the list, as one would expect from an odious regime, are journalists?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Gillian Merron): The hon. Gentleman is quite right to raise that issue. This is why one of the projects we are undertaking and funding is to do with establishing a free media. It is also true that it is not only journalists—and trade unionists—who have difficulty in speaking out; so, too, do other members of civil society and, indeed, indigenous people. The truth is that for as long as any one of those groups is unable to speak out without fear, there will always be difficulty, and that is not in the interests of a free and fair Colombia.