As we near the first round of Colombia’s presidential elections, the plight of the country’s social activists and human rights defenders has come under the spotlight. At least 70 have been killed so far this year, according to the Institute for Development and Peace Studies.
This is on top of the at least 1,279 rights defenders murdered in Colombia since a 2016 historic peace agreement between the government and the Leftist rebel group, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC, using its Spanish initials).
Some 945 of these have been killed in the four years since Ivan Duque, leader of the right-wing Democratic Centre party, became president.
