On 22 January 2018, Frontline Defenders launched their Annual Report on Human Rights Defenders at Risk in 2017. In this annual report, Front Line Defenders documented cases of HRDs from 27 countries worldwide. The report makes for shocking reading, especially regarding the situation of HRDs in Colombia. It highlights that 80% of the documented killings of HRDs were in just four countries: Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and the Philippines. Below is a summary of the evidence related to Colombia.
Frontline documented 312 HRDs killed globally in 2017 – of these 30% were Colombian (94 defenders killed) and 212 were killed in the Americas. This means that:
44% of all defenders killed in the Americas were Colombian
Whilst homicides in general have decreased in Colombia since the signing of the Peace Accord between the Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the number of killings of HRDs has dramatically increased, with most of the defenders dying at the hands of neo-paramilitary or ‘unidentified’ armed actors.
Nearly one in three defenders killed globally was Colombian
Land and Human Rights Defenders
67% of defenders killed globally were engaged in the defence of land, environmental and indigenous peoples’ rights and nearly always in the context of mega projects, extractive industry and big business.
Land has been at the root of Colombia’s armed conflict. Therefore, without the full implementation of rural reforms promised in the Peace Accord, alongside the dismantling of neo-paramilitary and other armed groups, it is likely that this pattern of killing of those defenders working on land and victims’ rights will continue.
Business and Human Rights Defenders
Despite Colombia having a National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, Front Line Defenders found that in cases involving land and mega-projects “countries, governments and security forces were, at best, unresponsive to threats and attacks faced by HRDs and, at worst, state security forces were themselves responsible for the killings.” (page 6)
Although the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, John Ruggie, launched a Framework for Business and Human Rights in 2008, Frontline Defenders found that:
…international investors and parent companies, whose funding and support initiated and enabled [mega projects, extractives and other big business projects], still do not regard local community leaders and HRDs as key actors to consult when planning projects. This lack of consultation increases the risk of confrontation further down the line and it denies companies early warning signals when conflict in local areas does emerge…
Frontline reports that globally, there was a weak response from both national governments and the international community in relation to threats, attacks and killings of HRDs. In 84% of killings, Frontline documented a lack of response from the State to information they had received in relation to previous threats, where they considered, “if preventive action were taken … at an early stage, attacks against HRDs could be dramatically reduced” (page 6).
Impunity for acts of violence against HRDs continues to enable an environment of frequent killings. Among those cases for which Frontline Defenders has collected data, only 12% globally resulted in the arrest of suspects.
Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) and LGBTI
The number and frequency of attacks against WHRDs also rose. These threats and attacks often included elements related, not only to their work, but also to their gender. A gendered dynamic to the targeting of WHRDs was prevalent in every region documented by Frontline Defenders (page 7).
- In April, a friend of peasant farmer HRD Marylen Serna Salinas was abducted and sexually assaulted by three unidentified men in Popayán, Colombia. The men stated the reason for the attack was Marylen’s work (page 13).
- Children of WHRDs were also threatened, as was the case with the daughter of Maria Leonilda Ravelo Grimaldo in Colombia, who had a gun pointed at her by two men on a motorcycle (page 7).
- WHRDs also experienced discrimination from within the human rights movement when they challenged cultural and social norms as part of their human rights work (page 7).
During the course of the year, Frontline Defenders also received reports of an alarming increase in homophobic and transphobic attacks in Colombia (page 13).
Criminalisation of Defenders
- Filing baseless lawsuits against HRDs was still one of the most common strategies used by both governments and non-state actors. Peru, Colombia, Guatemala, Ecuador, Honduras and Mexico accounted for most of the cases reported to Frontline Defenders in 2017
Cyber Attacks
- Throughout the Americas, there have been persistent reports of cyber attacks targeting HRDs’ work. Most common have been distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. In 2017, Front Line Defenders documented such attacks in Colombia.
Frontline Defenders documented the following HRDs killed in COLOMBIA
- Mario Castaño Bravo
- Mario Jacanamaijoy
- Albert Martinez Olarte
- Ramon Alcides Garcia Zapata
- Eliecer Carvajal
- Liliana Patricia Castaño Montoya
- Miguel Angel Cardona
- Ofelia Espinoza De Lopez
- Oscar Ferney Tenorio
- Jorge Luis Garcia del Rio
- Luis Villadiego Puentes
- Juana Almazo Epiayu
- Nelson Eduardo Velandia Ortiz
- Maritza Yuliana Garcia Vinasco
- Jose Adalberto Torrijano Andrade
- Javier Sevilla Alvarez
- Roberto Ortega Maclauslan
- José Yimer Cartagena Usuga
- Gildardo Antonio Valdés
- Luis Edilson Arango Gallego
- Fabián Aberto Álvarez Marín
- Liliana Astrid Ramírez Martínez
- Ezquivel Manyoma
- Jimmy Humberto Medina Trujillo
- Wilmer Hernández Caicedo
- Jairo Arturo Chilito Muñoz
- Luis Fernando Gil
- Hector William Mina
- María Efigenia Vasques
- Manuel Ramírez Mosquera
- Fernando Rivas Asprilla
- Aulio Isararama Forastero
- Eugenio Rentería Martínez
- Alberto Román Acosta
- Katherine Escalante Castilla
- Narda Barchilón
- Ricardo Córdoba
- Iván Martínez
- Wilmar Felipe Barona
- Efren Santo
- José Reyes Guerrero Gaitán
- Carlos Augusto Paneso
- Daniel Felipe Castro Basto
- Jairo Arturo Muñoz
- Jesús María Morales Morales
- César Augusto Parra
- Alciviades de Jesús Largo Hernández
- Carlos de Jesús Báez Torres
- Eberto Julio Gómez Mora
- Miguel Emiro Pérez
- José Jair Cortés
- Emigdio Dávila
- Aldemar Parra García
- Miguel Ángel Hoyos
- Eberto Julio Gómez Mora
- Wilfredy González Noreña
- Albenio Isaias Roseo Alvarez
- Edenis Barrera Benavides
- Fabian Antonio Rivera Arroyave
- Eder Cuetia Conda
- Falver Cerón Gómez
- Hernando Murillo Armijo
- Jorge Iván Bigamá Ogarí
- Emilsen Manyoma
- Edmiro León Alzate Londoño
- Wiwa Yoryanis Isabel Bernal Varela
- Edilberto Cantillo Meza
- Ruth Alicia Lopez Guisao
- Javier Oteca Pilcué
- Deiner Alexander Mendez Berrío
- Diego Fernando Rodriguez
- Montenegro
- Eliver Buitrago Gutierrez
- Luis Genaro Ochoa Sánchez
- Camilo Alberto Pinzon Galeano
- Rubiela Sánchez Vargas
- Idaly Castillo Narváez
- Severino Grueso Caicedo
- Jose Maria Lemus Téllez
- Nelson Fabra Díaz
- José Reyes Guerrero Gaitán
- Álvaro Arturo Tenorio Cabezas
- Mario Andrés Calle Correa
- Jorge Arbey Chantre Achipiz
- Jáider Jiménez Cardona
- Nolberto Lozada Ramón
- Gerson Acosta Salazar
- Bernardo Cuero Bravo
- Mauricio Fernando Vélez Lopez
- Segundo Victor Castillo
- Ezequiel Rangel Romano
- Washington Cedeño Otero