GENEVA, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- The UN refugee agency UNHCR said Friday it has noted "with growing concern" an increase in murders of and threats against community leaders and rights defenders in the Pacific Coast region of Colombia.
"In most cases, the victims are from indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities," UNHCR spokesperson William Spindler told a UN briefing in Geneva.
He said that one month ago, Jose Jair Cortes, a leader from the Afro-Colombian community of Alto Mira y Frontera in Tumaco, in the south-western department of Narino, was killed by an unknown armed group.
Since then, and according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia, at least seven further leaders have been killed and many others threatened.
Implementation of Colombia's Peace Agreement with the former guerrilla group FARC, announced a year ago, has sprung many challenges with the presence of armed groups and unlawful activities such as drug trafficking and illegal mining, said UNHCR.
"In all there are 78 known deaths of leaders and members of social organizations this year and at least 13 other suspected murders. By any measure this is alarming," said Spindler.
Cortes' was a leader of the Community Council of Afro-Colombian people, local inhabitants affected by mass displacement and he was already under the protection of the authorities at the time of his murder, because of repeated threats against him.
Some 1,500 people have been displaced in 2017 and many more are living in confinement, which means they cannot access their crops or fish to maintain their basic subsistence needs.
Between Nov. 7 and 12 more than 46 families were forcibly displaced from the Barbacoas and Tumaco municipalities in Narino department. Leaders from these areas believe the real number of victims could be much higher because people are afraid to report abuses, said Spindler.
The power vacuum left by the FARC's demobilization after a conflicted that started in 1964 has turned many areas into territories disputed between new and existing illegal armed groups, said Spindler.
Delays and problems relating to local implementation of the main accords of the Peace Agreement, such as voluntary substitution of illicit crops or local development, have increased uncertainty where the presence of the state remains weak, noted UNHCR.
