ABColombia in August 2017 took a delegation of parliamentarians to Colombia which consisted of Fiona O’Loughlin, Catherine Noone and Baroness Jean Coussins. This visit was supported with funds from ABColombia members Christian Aid and SCIAF. Fiona O’Loughlin was one of the Irish politicians who accompanied the delegation. Here she talks about the visit she made to the remote Afro-descendant communities living on collectively owned territory in the Rio Quito, Choco and the Wounaan Indigenous People in Bajo Calima and Bajo San Juan rivers close to Buenaventura. They also visited the Humanitarian Spaces in the urban area of Buenaventura.

Following the visit Fiona O’Loughlin together with the other politicans and journalist on the delegation sent a letter about what they had seen to:

• Paula Gaviria Betancur Presidential Commissioner for Human Rights 
• Luis Ernesto Gómez, Deputy Minister for Participation and Equal Rights, Ministry of the Interior