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 […]
“How can we also feel safe?”: Cape Town turns to surveillance tech to stop a tide of violence
KIM HARRISBERG, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports that city leaders hope an array of new tech will help deter criminals – but residents warn it’s not a simple fix…
Priest killed in Mexico, threats force concert to cancel
Mexico City, MexicoAP A priest in western Mexico has been shot to death, the eighth killed under the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The church’s Catholic Multimedia Center identified the priest as Rev Juan Angulo Fonseca. The centre said Sunday that eight priests, including Angulo Fonseca, have been murdered during the current administration, […]
El Salvador murders plummet by over half in 2022 amid gang crackdown
San Salvador, El SalvadorReuters Murders in El Salvador tumbled 56.8 per cent in 2022 amid a widespread crackdown on gang violence, the government said on Tuesday, extending a sharp drop in killings in a nation which for years had one of the world’s worst murder rates. Authorities registered a total of 496 homicides last year, […]
America’s deadly epidemic: Violence against women
MAGALI DRUSCOVICH AND MARIA CASPANI, of Reuters, report on how those who kill women are largely men they know…
In El Salvador’s gang crackdown, quotas drive “arbitrary” arrests of innocents
San Salvador, El Salvador Reuters Dozens of innocent people have been apprehended in El Salvador in recent months amid President Nayib Bukele’s “war on gangs,” after superiors forced officers to meet daily arrest quotas during a state of emergency, five officials told Reuters. In March, El Salvador registered 62 murders in a single day, the […]
Colombia court says 5,733 people killed, disappeared in campaign against left-wing party
Bogota, ColombiaReuters Some 5,733 people were killed or disappeared in Colombia as part of a campaign against the left-wing Patriotic Union party between 1984 and 2016, acts linked to paramilitaries with military backing, the country’s transitional justice tribunal said on Friday. According to the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), some 4,616 of the victims were […]
US gig worker murders expose apps’ safety gaps, says labour group
Los Angeles, USThomson Reuters Foundation Two years after fleeing political persecution in Bangladesh, Salauddin Bablu was stabbed to death in Manhattan by a man who stole the electric bike he used to deliver food during long shifts for the Grubhub app. “When Salauddin died, his family lost everything,” Bablu’s brother-in-law, Muhammad Ahsan, said by phone […]
El Salvador invokes emergency powers after surge in homicides
San Salvador, El Salvador Reuters El Salvador’s Congress approved on Sunday emergency powers that temporarily suspended some constitutional protections after the Central American country recorded a sharp rise in killings attributed to criminal gangs. Police reported a total of 62 homicides on Saturday in the nation of some 6.5 million people. It was the highest […]
Ecuador to increase police manpower in Guayaquil after killings
Quito, EcuadorReuters Ecuadorean President Guillermo Lasso said on Sunday he will send an additional 1,100 police officers to coastal Guayaquil and increase military presence there amid a spate of violent deaths the government says are connected to the fight against the drug trade. Violence and crime, including within the prison system, soared in Ecuador late […]