The fifth anniversary of the kidnapping, on 23 February 2002, of Ms Ingrid Betancourt and her campaign director once again brings home to the international community the tragedy suffered every day by the hostages held in Colombia. Some have been held for nine years.
The European Union reiterates in the strongest possible terms its condemnation of hostage-taking, wherever it occurs. It calls on the illegal groups in Colombia to release all the hostages without delay and to abandon kidnapping and hostage-taking.
The Union has already emphasised the need for a humanitarian agreement and repeats that a dialogue leading to the conclusion of such an agreement must be sought as a matter of urgency. It underlines the merit of the proposal put forward by Spain, France and Switzerland in this connection.
The Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this declaration.
*Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.
