BOGOTA, 30 Nov. - (ANA) - A UN-appointed panel warned this week about high levels of violence against indigenous rights defenders and community leaders, linked to foreign mining companies, in Colombia.

 

In a review of Colombia, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination heard that more than 704 community leaders were murdered between January 2016 and mid-2019. Last month alone, 36 indigenous people were killed.

 

Rapporteur Maria Moreno told the Committee that every 72 hours, a human rights defender dies in Colombia, where there are more than 100 indigenous peoples and over 60 languages. Ethnic minorities lived in remote, mineral-rich parts of the country, which brought them into conflict with major development projects, the panel heard.  - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/30 November 2019 - - -