Violation of human rights of social leaders and defenders of human rights in Colombia, 2015-2019

Abstract

A comparative analysis was carried out on the violation of human rights (HR) of social leaders and defenders in the Colombian territory between the years 2015 and 2019. For this purpose, the statistical and historiographic methods were used to perform an analysis of added data and a documentary review, having as sources different social organizations and some state institutions. In this way, the conceptualization of the categories of social leader and human rights defender was questioned to compare the differences between the definitions proposed by the State and non-State organizations. Infringements such as threats, assassinations, attacks, arbitrary detentions, prosecutions, disappearances, arbitrary use of the penal system, and theft of information were quantified to see the magnitude of the problem in the study period. Finally, it was concluded that the State has not mitigated the violation of the human rights of defenders and social leaders, thus exacerbating the problem in the territories, which worsens the deficiencies in social aspects and inequalities in the country.