Colombia: 361 Environmental Activists Killed Since 2018 (Report)
According to a report released by the NGO Foundation for Peace and Reconciliation (PARES) on Wednesday in Cali, over 350 environmental activists have been murdered in Colombia in the past six years. The report condemns the “high degree of impunity” surrounding these crimes.
PARES has recorded a total of 361 murders since 2018, with 2023 marking the deadliest year, during which 81 killings occurred. A particularly alarming statistic highlighted in the report reveals that “66% of those responsible for these murders have not been identified.”
The NGO Global Witness reports that Colombia experienced the highest number of assassinations of environmental activists worldwide in 2023. This unfortunate statistic coincides with the gathering in Cali of negotiators from nearly 200 countries, who are convening until November 1st to discuss nature conservation.
“The struggle between armed groups for territorial control has emerged as one of the primary risk factors for environmental defenders,” explains the PARES Foundation, noting that “poor coordination among state institutions hampers an effective response to this targeted violence.”
The NGO indicates that some victims were opponents of large institutional projects, whether local or federal, such as mining operations and hydroelectric dams. However, in 31% of the cases, the identified perpetrators belong to an armed group. Among these instances, more than half are attributed to dissidents of the former FARC guerrilla, who rejected the historic peace agreement reached with the government in 2016.
