A social leader is killed every four days in Colombia despite the current peace process between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), according to a recent report.
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186 Social Leaders Assassinated in Colombia Since 2016
The Foundation for Peace and Reconciliation said it recorded 55 assassinations of community leaders and human rights activists this year alone.
“Every four days a homicide is committed against a social leader in Colombia and every two days ..one threatened,” its report said.
“The vulnerability of leaders and human rights defenders in Colombia remains critical. The acts of violence against this population show high degrees of systematic behavior.”
Since Colombia’s government signed a historic peace deal with FARC guerrillas last November, a total of 181 acts victimizing social leaders and human rights defenders have been recorded, according to the study.
The motivations for these actions are to limit the participation of social leaders in politics, impede processes of truth-building, land restitution, and environmental protection.
Besides the murders of social movement leaders, there were selective killings of former FARC members, with six targeted in the past three months. Nine rebels' relatives have also been murdered this year.
Colombia’s military has responded by embarking on a major reform to effectively deal with the paramilitary threat. Additionally, several “normalization and stabilization” units have been formed to curb the violence impacting on communities in abandoned FARC territory.
Last week, the United Nations Security Council adopted a British-drafted resolution which authorizes a second political mission in Colombia, focusing on reintegrating FARC rebels into society.
While the Foundation of Peace and Reconciliation report concluded that “institutional advances in security are beginning to be seen,” it also called for greater efforts to bring the rule of law and governance to all corners of the country.
“It is the opportunity to build a more robust local institutional structure, which generates confidence and can be recognized as an authority for the processing of conflicts,” it said.