UN Human Rights Condemns Attack on the Colombian Vice President’s Father
Sigifredo Marquez (L), June 16, 2024. Photo: X/ @RedRadioVe
June 17, 2024 Hour: 2:32 pm
On Sunday, unknown individuals fired at the vehicle in which Sigifredo Marquez was traveling.
On Monday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia condemned the attack on Sigifredo Marquez, the father of Vice President Francia Marquez.
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Yesterday, unknown individuals fired at the vehicle in which Marquez was traveling, along with a six-year-old nephew of the vice president. Although the vehicle was hit by four shots, the attack did not cause any casualties.
Juliette De Rivero, the representative in Colombia of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, expressed her concern about the level of violence in Colombia and noted that there were also attacks on the civilian population in Jamundi in Valle del Cauca and Cajibio in Cauca last week.
She also highlighted the persistence of forced recruitment of minors and the murder of social leaders. In this context, De Rivero urged the Colombian government to restore governance and protect human rights, and she called on armed groups to “respect the human rights of the entire civilian population.”
“The UN Office for Human Rights considers that peace talks should aim to protect the civilian population, strengthen the comprehensive presence of the State, curb violence and the territorial expansion of non-state armed groups, and guarantee human rights,” she said.
Currently, the Colombian government is engaged in several dialogues with armed groups, although the negotiations are not in their best moment.
While the authorities established a dialogue process with the Central General Staff (EMC) in 2023, the talks faced a deadlock in March due to a split within that dissident faction of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a guerrilla organization that signed a peace agreement in 2016.
Currently, some armed groups split from the EMC are carrying out military operations against the Colombian State in the southwest of the country.
Source: EFE
teleSUR/ JF
