Kolumbien

While political actors in Colombia are uniting to confront COVID-19, they must also work together to fight “the epidemic of violence” against civil society leaders, human rights defenders and former combatants, the head of the UN mission in the country said on Tuesday during a Security Council meeting held by videoconference.

Colombia’s ELN rebels on Tuesday rejected the “peace promoters” authorized by President Ivan Duque to explore ways to resume peace talks.

Colombia’s ELN rebels on Sunday announced a ceasefire for April hours after the government of President Ivan Duque authorized two peace mediators.

Even though a series of armed groups have demobilized and violence has declined over recent decades, peace remains partial in Colombia. The current peace process with the FARC insurgency shows why Colombia has such difficulty achieving a complete peace.

Colombia’s president Ivan Duque vowed to accelerate the implementation of peace policies after meeting with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Monday. The meeting followed growing tensions between the United Nations’ agencies in Colombia and the Duque administration.

[…] While the peace process significantly improved people’s lives in large parts of the country, this progress was undone by the increase in violence in parts where the state is virtually non-existent, according to the ICRC’s report on 2019.

More than 100 human rights defenders and 66 indigenous people were killed in the South American country last year, according to a UN report. Critics have slammed President Duque for not doing enough to stop the violence.

The UN human rights office, OHCHR, is “deeply troubled by the staggering number of human rights defenders killed in Colombia” last year, its spokesperson said on Tuesday.

[…] The UN envoy hailed the “invaluable work” of the Comprehensive System of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Non-Repetition, spelling out that “thousands of former combatants who only a few years ago were armed with weapons of war continue to forge new lives through the opportunities provided by peace, despite many difficulties and security risks”.