Colombia

The director of the United Nations’ human rights office in Colombia urged to prioritize a government policy to dismantle paramilitary groups in order to secure peace.

The UN human rights office, OHCHR, welcomed on Friday, progress on the investigation in Colombia of people falsely presented as having been killed in combat as "an important step in fighting impunity". 

Colombia's military carried out at least 6,400 extrajudicial killings and presented them as combat deaths between 2002 and 2008, a number significantly higher than previously estimated, a special court said Thursday. The court, called the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, is investigating crimes and atrocities committed during half a century of armed conflict between government troops and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Marxist rebels who laid down their weapons following a historic 2016 peace accord.

Human Rights Watch slammed Colombia’s government on Wednesday for failing to act against deadly violence that has killed more than 420 human rights defenders since 2016. In a report, the international human rights organization said “the authorities do not exercise effective control over several areas previously controlled by the FARC,” the former guerrilla group that demobilized in 2017.

Illegally-armed groups and criminal organizations in Colombia are determined to “drive out State institutions and stamp out the voice of social leaders” through violence and intimidation, the head of the UN mission in the country told the Security Council on Thursday.

The United Nations has recorded the deaths of 255 people in 66 massacres in Colombia this year, as well as the killing of 120 human rights defenders, the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Tuesday.  

[…] FARC leaders and the government coordinator for the peace process, Emilio Archila, announced six concrete measures to curb the violence that cost the lives of at least 236 FARC members following a 2016 peace deal with former President Juan Manuel Santos.

The UN deputy chief has underscored the importance of the full and comprehensive implementation of Colombia's historic 2016 peace agreement, to enable sustainable and resilient communities in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. 

The human rights commission of the Organization of American States expressed its “deep concern” on Monday over increased violence in Colombia’s historically war-torn regions.

Enormous challenges remain on the road to lasting peace in Colombia, where despite ongoing attacks and stigmatization, the vast majority of former FARC-EP fighters who laid down their weapons under a 2016 peace agreement with the Government, remain engaged in the reintegration process, the head of the UN mission in the South American country says.