Léim ar aghaidh chuig an bpríomhábhar
Gnáthamharc

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 5 Nov 2002

Vol. 556 No. 3

Adjournment Debate. - Colombia Three.

I am grateful for the opportunity of raising the case of the Colombia three, namely, Niall Connolly, Martin McCauley and Jim Monaghan, three Irish citizens who were arrested on 11 August 2001 at Bogota airport in Colombia.

This is a human rights case which also has the potential to be a miscarriage of justice. It may not be trendy, fashionable or politically correct these days to speak out on human rights issues or the right to a fair trial, but I will do so because, in any democracy, if we stay silent on human rights abuses we fail as democrats and we fail as politicians that support civil liberties for all.

I appeal for balanced coverage of this debate in the media. Sadly, the media coverage and the political debate on the Colombia three has been unprofessional and showed a complete lack of fairness. I spent the past seven weeks meeting and talking with the families of the three men. I have been impressed by their sincerity, integrity and genuine compassion. They are concerned about the men's safety and also about getting them a fair trial in December. This is why I am speaking in this debate. I urgently request the Minister for Foreign Affairs to send a legal representative to the trial in December.

It is essential that justice is seen to be done. It is also essential that Ireland asserts itself as an opinion maker on human rights cases and that it is not bullied or influenced too much by the United States or Britain. It is also the duty of elected representatives to inform the public about the real facts and background to the case.

Colombia has a population of 42.2 million people, whose official language is Spanish, but there are also 180 other languages. Over 3 million people have been displaced by violence over a ten year period. About 200,000 had to flee in the first six months of 2001 alone. In October 1998, President Pastrana created a demilitarised area which comprised 40% of Colombia. The thinking was to create a space to facilitate talks with the FARC guerrillas and to have a physical space for conflict resolution.

Historically, it is important that we record that in 1984 the FARC movement called a ceasefire and was about to go down the political road. However, over 4,000 of its members, men and women, many of whom were candidates for the election, were slaughtered by right-wing paramilitary groups with links to the security forces. This led to the breakdown of the ceasefire and the civil war started again. On 9 July 1998, President elect Andrés Pastrana met FARC leaders and dialogue began again.

It is also important to put on record that the area the three men visited was also visited by Mo Mowlam and the Queen of Jordan. These are the basic facts of the background to this case and it is important that the public knows this.

In the so-called Plan Colombia, one can see clearly that 75% of the assistance is for military expenditure. There is barely a mention of the poor farmers or workers who work for as little as 50 cent per hour. Only the coca plants in the guerrilla-controlled areas are being fumigated. This is only a small percentage of the Colombian coca production. Today's edition of The Irish Times reports that 80% of the production is coming from other areas. These chemicals are also killing legal crops such as coffee, rubber and bananas. Farmers are being forced back to coca production. Let us put proper investment in these areas and give the poor an opportunity to break the cycle of poverty. This is where we should invest our Third World funding.

In 2001, 144 trade Unionists were assassinated and 66 disappeared. The UN estimates that one woman disappears every 14 days and one is killed every 50 days. Also, in 2001, 12 journalists were killed, eight fled the country and 24 were kidnapped. It is essential that we all know the background to this case. Since their arrests, the three men have been tried by the Colombian and international media, which violates their right to a fair trial. The Colombian Office of the Attorney General has deliberately leaked every prosecution document to the media. Despite all the hype, there is no forensic evidence against the men. International, independent experts will confirm this in December. Witnesses have been dis credited and the only case is false documentation. This charge, in any part of the world, would simply mean deportation.

This is the background to the case of the Colombia three and I urge the Minister to do all in his power to assist the families in their requests for support, legal advice, financial advice, national and international observers and, above all, to ensure a fair trial for the three men. I urge the Minister to take these proposals and issues on board.

I thank Deputy McGrath for raising this issue.

The three Irish men to whom the Deputy refers were arrested at Bogota airport by military police on 11 August 2001. They are currently being held in La Modelo prison in Bogota. The men have been charged with the use of false documents and training for illicit activities. The judicial authority handling the case ruled that the men had a case to answer and authorised their detention while an investigation was carried out. In February this year, the decision was taken that there were sufficient grounds to send the matter to trial and the men were formally charged.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has provided consular assistance to the three men since their arrest. Officials from the embassy in Mexico, which is accredited to Colombia on a non-resident basis, have made frequent consular visits to the men. The embassy has also maintained close contact with the relevant Colombian authorities and has assisted the families and the organisation supporting the men who have visited them on a number of occasions.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Cowen, wrote twice to his Colombian counterpart to stress the importance of ensuring that the men are held in a place where their safety can be assured, where they can be given reasonable living conditions and where they can have adequate access to their legal representatives.

The Minister met the Colombian Foreign Minister in New York in September 2001 to reiterate these concerns. The Taoiseach met former President Pastrana in June of this year and emphasised the importance of ensuring that the men receive a fair trial. The Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Taoiseach have met the families of the men. The Minister also met the new Colombian Foreign Minister in New York on 13 September and had a further meeting with the families of the three men on 26 September.

The date for the opening of the men's trial was set for 4 October in Bogota. However, the men refused to attend the first hearing, claiming that they could not receive a fair trial and, as a consequence, the trial was postponed by the judge until 16 October. On that occasion also the men exercised their right not to attend but the judge proceeded with the case in their absence. He made certain decisions in respect of future proceedings and set the dates of 2 to 4 December for the next stage of the trial. It is expected that the trial will take place in a number of stages over a period of time.

An official from the Irish embassy accredited to Colombia attended the two hearings to date as a consular observer. The Minister has received a request to also send a legal observer to attend the next stages of the trial. The Minister will make a decision on this request in due course, in light of an assessment of all aspects of the issue. This has been conveyed to the families of the men.

The Minister wishes to assure the House that his Department will continue to closely follow this case and that it will provide all possible consular assistance to the men and their families.

Barr
Roinn