The state response has been"insufficient to reduce the levels of violence, prevent abuses committed by criminal organisations and adequately protect communities in the territories," according to the report.
More than 562 human rights defenders were killed in Colombia between 2016 and 2021, according to a report by the United Nations Human Rights Office. The state response has been "insufficient to reduce the levels of violence, prevent abuses committed by criminal organisations and adequately protect communities in the territories," according to the report.
"In some places these groups seem to supplant some of the State's own functions and regulate many aspects of community life, even making decisions on family issues or local justice," said Juliette De Rivero, Colombian representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, during the presentation of the report.