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In 2021, 139 murders and 996 individual aggressions against social leaders and human rights defenders were registered in Colombia.
The number of murders and aggressions in the country against activists working for the rights of their communities in 2021 increased by 3 percent over 2020, making it the highest figure since 2010, when the NGO Somos Defensores began recording acts of violence against activists in the South American country.
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The NGO affirmed having entitled its annual report as "Theater of Shadows," due to the "staging" that the government of President Iván Duque sustained during his almost four years in office.
Concerning aggressions against human rights leaders, the organization said that Iván Duque's administration "through effects projects an image very different from what happens in reality."
The NGO also denounces the ineffectiveness of Duque's government in providing due guarantees for the exercise of legitimate social leadership.
Este jueves en Colombia, a través del programa Somos Defensores se dio a conocer que un total de 53 defensores en materia de derechos humanos fueron asesinados en lo que va de 2022 (enero- marzo).#UnearteEsCultura pic.twitter.com/BwhLVlFavo
— Maritza de Moncada. (@LaVozDelSur_1) May 6, 2022
This Thursday in Colombia, through the Somos Defensores program, it was announced that a total of 53 human rights defenders had been murdered so far in 2022 (January-March).
Somos Defensores also warned that murders in the first quarter of the current year increased dramatically, reaching 53 compared to 28 in the previous period. The NGO said the next government must pay greater attention to addressing this alarming issue.
The organization's annual report also said that the "lack of political will to implement the Peace Agreement in a comprehensive manner" persists.
In the same vein, it said that the collusion of illegal armed groups with members of the security forces and other actors continues, besides the refusal to resume negotiations with Colombia's last active guerrilla group, the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (National Liberation Army).
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