Deadly violence targeting community leaders and rights defenders in Colombia reduced slightly in 2024, according to a prominent conflict monitor.
According to the NGO Indepaz, 174 social leaders were assassinated last year.
This implies a slight reduction compared to 2023 when 188 community leaders and rights defenders were assassinated.
Provinces that were particularly hard hit were Cauca and Valle del Cauca in the southwest of Colombia, and Arauca in the northeast, according to the data published by Indepaz.
The ongoing assassinations of social leaders are a major setback for President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” policy.
When taking office in 2022, the president vowed to improve the security conditions for activists and communities that suffer from violence by illegal armed groups.
Ongoing tensions between illegal armed groups in some regions and corruption at the National Protection Unit, which is responsible for the protection of threatened people, has hampered efforts to significantly reduce violence.
The protection of community and rights activists became a government priority as part of a peace process that followed the demobilization of the now-defunct guerrilla group FARC in 2017.
On top of the activists, 31 demobilized former guerrillas were assassinated last year, according to Indepaz.
