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<h1 id="reader-title">Disturbing Pattern in Violence Against
Colombian Activists: UN</h1>
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<p>March 17, 2017<br>
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<p>The 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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>"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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>"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."</p>
<p>Her remarks echoed the concern of many that the pattern
of violence is reminiscent of the vicious right-wing <a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/Colombias-Activist-Killings-Mirror-1980s-Leftist-Genocide-20170310-0024.html">paramilitary
attacks on leftist activists</a> in the 1980s after
the breakdown of a previous peace agreement.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>"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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>"We could not document any systemization in the deaths
of these social leaders," he told La Semana.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>"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.</p>
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