During 2023, Colombia recorded 98 massacres, an increase of 6.5% compared to the previous year.
This is what emerges from the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) presented in Bogota.
“It is worrying that despite the decline in some indicators of violence, the territorial expansion and violent social control strategies of non-state armed groups and criminal organizations continue to have serious consequences for human rights,” said the OHCHR representative for Colombia, Juliette De Rivero.
The study shows that last year massacres - the killing of three or more people in the same attack - resulted in 320 deaths, of which 32 were children and 18 belonged to ethnic minorities.
The UN has shown concern about the territorial expansion of cases of violence linked to armed organizations, recorded in 2023 in 206 of the 1,100 municipalities in the country.
In 2022 massacres were recorded in 180 municipalities and in 2021 in 156.
"The consolidation of the power of groups in some territories represents a risk for the governability of Colombia and for the protection of the human rights of the population," said DeRivero.
The report also denounces the "control" that the organizations exercise over the populations, where they "kill, extort, threaten, limit movements, recruit minors, kidnap and rape".
According to De Rivero, 105 murders of human rights defenders were recorded in 2023.
Despite the 9.5% drop on the year, it remains "the highest number in the world".
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