Colombia rights watchdog reports 181 activists slain in 2023
Bogota, ColombiaReuters Some 181 community activists were murdered in Colombia in 2023, the human rights ombudsman’s office said on Tuesday, calling the situation a tragedy. The number of murdered activists, known as social leaders, and human rights defenders in Colombia was lower in 2023 than the prior year, the ombudsman said, adding that killings in […]
Record half-million migrants crossed Latin America’s dangerous Darien Gap in 2023
Panama CityReuters A record 520,000 migrants crossed the treacherous jungle between Colombia and Panama known as the Darien Gap in 2023, more than double the number reported the year before, according to government figures seen by Reuters on Tuesday. The migrants who made the journey that marks the start of the dangerous trek north from […]
Amazon under threat: Impact of climate-driven drought may last until 2026
BRAD HAYNES and JAKE SPRING, of Reuters, report on the devastating impact of the drought gripping northern Brazil, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and parts of Venezuela and Colombia…
Activist killings: How campaigners’ slayings hurt environmental protection in Colombia
OLIVER GRIFFIN, of Reuters, reports on the price some 60 environmentalists paid for their work in Colombia last year…
Colombia ELN guerrillas free kidnapped father of Liverpool soccer star Diaz
Bogota, ColombiaReuters Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas on Thursday freed the father of Liverpool soccer player Luis Diaz, after taking him hostage nearly two weeks ago, the government said. The kidnapping of Luis Manuel Diaz has disrupted the government’s peace talks with the ELN, which restarted last year in the hope of ending the […]
Colombia, EMC armed group begin peace talks, ceasefire
Tibu, Colombia Reuters Colombia’s government and the country’s largest group of dissident former FARC rebels on Sunday began peace talks and started a 10-month bilateral ceasefire in a bid to end the group’s role in almost six decades of internal conflict, the rebel group announced. The negotiations with the Estado Mayor Central – a dissident group […]
Number of migrants crossing Panama’s Darien Gap surpasses 400,000 to record high
Panama City, PanamaReuters The number of people crossing the perilous Darien Gap linking Panama and Colombia has hit a record high of 400,000 in the year to September, official data showed, as migration to the United States intensified despite efforts to curb the flow. More than half of those migrants were children and babies, Panama’s […]
More than 35,000 suffered sexual violence in Colombia’s conflict – tribunal
Bogota, ColombiaReuters At least 35,178 people have suffered sexual, gender and reproductive violence in Colombia’s armed conflict, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) tribunal said on Wednesday as it opened an investigation. Women, girls and people with diverse sexual orientations, identities and expressions of gender were the most affected, the JEP said. “The court finds […]
Essay: The global approach to serious crimes is shifting to domestic trials – here’s what I found in three African countries
PATRYK LABUDA, author of ‘International Criminal Tribunals and Domestic Accountability: In The Court’s Shadow’, looks at the pros and cons of in-country trials of those accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes…
Colombia poverty fell in 2022, extreme poverty rose slightly – government
Bogota, ColombiaReuters Poverty levels in Colombia declined slightly in 2022, according to a report from the government’s DANE statistics agency, although the proportion of people living in extreme poverty rose slightly. The share of Colombians living in poverty fell to 36.6 per cent in 2022 – equivalent to 18.3 million people in the country of […]