Number down compared to 2020, 32 indigenous leaders among the victims
(ANSA) – BOGOTÀ, JANUARY 17 – At least 145 human rights defenders were murdered in Colombia in 2021: a decrease compared to the previous year but which confirms the resurgence of violence in the country since the 2016 peace agreement, according to the office of the Defender of the People.
In 2021, “145 murders of social leaders or human rights defenders were recorded”, the public body that monitors respect for human rights in the country said in a press release. In 2020, 182 homicides were recorded. According to the People’s Defender, 32 indigenous representatives, 16 peasant leaders and seven trade unionists are among the victims of 2021.
“We condemn these facts, mainly due to the criminal actions of illegal armed groups,” said defender Carlos Camargo, without giving details on the alleged perpetrators of these attacks.
Since the signing of the peace agreement with the guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) in 2016, the killings of social leaders have been recurrent. Social organizations accuse Farc dissidents, fighters from the National Liberation Army (ELN) – the last active guerrilla in Colombia – drug traffickers and paramilitary groups of being behind the killings.
Three departments are particularly affected: Antioquia, Cauca and Valle del Cauca, corridors of drug trafficking.
Colombia is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for activists, according to several NGOs. Global Witness identified it as the deadliest to environmental defenders (65 deaths in 2020). The government of Conservative President Ivan Duque accuses drug gangs of being behind the killings. Colombia, the world‘s largest cocaine producer, is experiencing the worst peak of violence since the signing of the 2016 peace agreement. (ANSA).