Colombia's human rights ombudsman, Carlos Camargo, released a statement on Monday saying that 215 human rights activists and social leaders, which include community, land and environmental leaders, were killed in 2022 - as a result of armed groups eyeing drug trafficking routes to control.

So far, this marks the highest death toll ever recorded, as it went up from 145 in 2021 and 182 in 2020.

“It’s a serious impact on the basis of democracy, because these are leaders who take up the concerns of the people, who are spokespersons and who work for a country where human rights are respected,” the ombudsman stated after Colombian President Gustavo Petro initiated a “total peace” plan to stop the armed conflict taking a toll on the country and its people since 1985.

A peace agreement was recently signed with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)  rebel group in 2016, which disarmed the organization, but a few FARC individuals rejected the idea and began gathering their weapons again. 

Indigenous community remains unprotected

Due to increased drug trafficking and illegal activities across Colombia, the INDEPAZ research institute recorded close to 100 assassinations last year. 

Juan Pappier, senior Americas researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in July, "In other areas of Colombia, they are being killed because they support plans to replace cocaine crops with food – which obviously would potentially damage the illegal economy of these same groups – or because they support plans to recover land stolen during the armed conflict". 

Amnesty International's Americas director, Erika Guevara-Rosas, raised awareness regarding indigenous communities in February, “The protection of Indigenous, campesino and Afro-descendant communities in Colombia is ineffective because it does not address the structural causes of violence and often occurs without the proper participation of those at risk,”

“Defenders of communities at risk are constantly unprotected, and threats, attacks and killings are constant in the country considered the most dangerous in the world for defending human rights,” she added. 

Peace talks resumed last year with Colombia’s largest and only armed group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), located in Venezuela and a second round of talks is expected to happen soon in Mexico. 

“We hope the start of talks with the ELN and the ceasefire with other illegal armed groups will lead to decreased attacks against social leaders and human rights defenders,” Camargo expressed. 

Representatives of the ELN have remained in Cuba since 2019. It is worth noting that Colombia, like the US and Canada, designated the ELN as a terrorist organization.