UN: Disturbing Pattern in Violence Against Colombian Activists

By teleSUR

18 March 17

 

"There is a pattern to where the killings are occurring. FARC's leaving these areas has really complicated the lives of [human rights] leaders."

he U.N. high commissioner for human rights released its report on the Colombian peace process noting a "deeply worrying" pattern of violence against human rights activists and community leaders.

The report found that in 2016 there were 389 attacks on social movement and human rights activists, including 127 assassinations, most of which occurred in areas until recently controlled by the FARC guerillas.

"There is a pattern here relative to where the killings are occurring. FARC's leaving these areas has really complicated the lives of [human rights] leaders," said Todd Howland, the representative of the U.N. high commissioner for human rights in Colombia.

Just last month thousands of FARC guerillas completed their demobilization into 34 U.N. controlled "safe zones" as part of the final peace agreement signed in January which brought to an end a brutal 52-year civil war.

The vacuum left by FARC's demobilization has led to a spike in violence as right-wing paramilitaries and organized crime groups vie for control of areas largely abandoned by the Colombian state.

"These are not isolated incidents," said Luz Perly Cordoba, a lawyer and community leader who spoke on a panel convened to release the report, adding that these attacks were "the biggest danger to the implementation of the [peace] accord."

Her remarks echoed the concern of many that the pattern of violence is reminiscent of the vicious right-wing paramilitary attacks on leftist activists in the 1980s after the breakdown of a previous peace agreement.

Indeed the report itself noted that the "high level of impunity in cases of aggression against human rights defenders" threatens confidence in the peace process.

"We are deeply worried about the violence against [community] leaders and human rights defenders. The persistence of this violence puts at risk the common goal of peace in the country," said Martin Santiago, U.N. coordinator in Colombia.

Despite the report, Colombia's defense minister Luis Villegas continued to deny any pattern to the violence, saying any attacks are "isolated incidents" purported by "criminal gangs", according to La Semana.

"We could not document any systemization in the deaths of these social leaders," he told La Semana.

Villegas' denial speaks directly to another finding in the report that continued refusal to recognize or acknowledge violence perpetrated by the state or government-linked paramilitary groups continues to pose a challenge to the peace process.

"Broad official and political sectors still deny state agents have committed serious violations. In order to effectively contribute to the non-repetition of violence, recognition of violations committed by public servants must take into account the state, political, institutional and individual dimensions as a whole," the report noted.