Deadly violence against Colombia's social leaders persists

Southwest Colombia particularly affected
by Adriaan Alsema June 2, 2023

Colombia’s human rights defenders and community leader continue to suffer widespread aggression despite government promises to curb the violence, according to a human rights organization.

In it’s annual report, NGO Somos Defensores said it had registered 840 acts of aggression against social leaders in 2022 and another 258 in the first three months of this year.

The majority of this violence consisted of death threats.

Deadly violence against social leaders increased sharply from 139 assassinations in 2021 to 197 in 2022. Another five social leaders were assassinated in January, February and March.

More:
https://colombiareports.com/deadly-violence-against-colombias-social-leaders-persists/

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Colombian activist killings hit record high in 2022: Ombudsman

Human rights ombudsman says 215 activists and social leaders were killed across Colombia last year, up from 145 in 2021.

23 Jan 2023

More than 200 social leaders and human rights activists were killed in Colombia last year, the country’s human rights ombudsman has announced, as armed groups vying for control of drug trafficking routes increased their attacks.

Carlos Camargo said in a statement on Monday that 215 human rights activists and social leaders – a term used to describe community, land and environmental leaders, among others – were killed in 2022. It was the highest death toll ever recorded, up from 145 in 2021 and 182 in 2020.

“It’s a serious impact on the basis of democracy, because these are leaders who take up the concerns of the people, who are spokespersons and who work for a country where human rights are respected,” the ombudsman said.

The tally comes as Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who took office last August, has pursued a “total peace” plan to try to bring an end to the armed conflict that killed more than 450,000 people in the South American country between 1985 and 2018.

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“In other areas of Colombia, they are being killed because they support plans to replace cocaine crops with food – which obviously would potentially damage the illegal economy of these same groups – or because they support plans to recover land stolen during the armed conflict,” he said.

More:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/23/colombian-activist-killings-hit-record-high-in-2022-ombudsman