Ivan Yates
Ceist:77 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if the EU General Affairs Council has recently considered the situation in Colombia. [4275/00]
Written Answers. - Foreign Conflicts.
Last October, the President of Colombia, Mr. Andrés Pastrana travelled to Europe to explain his country's peace process and to outline his intentions for the Plan Colombia, which will be designed to provide the economic and social underpinning for the peace process. When he addressed the European Parliament, and again when he met with Commissioner Chris Patten, President Pastrana indicated that once the peace process had got successfully under way, he would spell out the details of the kind of support Colombia would wish the European Union to provide.
Since President Pastrana's European visit, the peace process has suffered some setbacks but there have been hopeful signs also, including a temporary ceasefire in December by the main guerilla group, FARC and continued contacts since between the two sides.
It is to be hoped that these contacts will shortly bear fruit, ending the plight of the people of Colombia who have been the long-suffering victims of violence inflicted by all sides. The violence of the left-wing insurgents in Colombia is matched by that of the right-wing paramilitaries – often associated with the official security forces. Both sides seem to be equally indifferent to the plight of the civilian population, to whom no immunity is extended.
As President Pastrana himself acknowledged in his speech to the European Parliament, breaches of human rights by agents of the state are especially abhorrent. The Colombian Government is aware of the particular concern expressed by the Irish government and its EU partners on that score. President Pastrana has established a special committee to expedite investigations into human rights violations as part of a new, integrated human rights strategy. He has also accepted the help of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs. Mary Robinson, in establishing a national plan for human rights.
Ireland and her European partners are fully engaged with the situation in Colombia. The embassies of the EU member states in Bogota are in close and constant contact with the Colombian authorities, and report regularly on the developing peace process. The EU and its member states are already Colombia's largest single aid donor. When the terms of the new Plan Colombia are announced, I am sure that the EU will be responsive. Ireland and her European partners will play a full part in supporting the peace process which is designed to build a better future for the long suffering people of Colombia, based on human rights, democracy and equitable social and economic development.