Colombia: UN Envoy Urges Colombia to Act Quickly to Protect Leaders

Jan 23, 2019 | Edith M. Lederer, Tribune
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The new UN envoy for Colombia urged the government on Wednesday to swiftly implement its plan to protect social leaders, saying seven leaders were killed in just the first week of January. Carlos Ruiz Massieu told the Security Council that there have also been 31 attacks since Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ latest report was published earlier this month. According to the Colombian attorney general’s investigations, three-quarters of the killings are from attacks by “criminal and armed groups” on leaders of “local action boards” and indigenous communities and those active in land reclamation and voluntary crop substitution programs, he said.