AFGJ commemorates Colombia National Victim’s Day

Colombia commemorates today. April 9, 2021, the tenth anniversary of the National Victm’s Day. This day was institutionalized by ex-president Manuel Santos, thru the Victims and Land Restitution Law, to recognized and compensate Colombian victims of human rights abuses during the long-running arm conflict.

The Victims and Land Restitution law, defines a victim as “those people who individually or collectively have suffered a violation of their fundamental rights because of the internal armed conflict through acts that have occurred since January 1, 1985.” It aimed to restore land to Colombia’s millions of internally displaced people and financially compensate the victims.

In an environment full of activities and protests around the country, grassroots organizations, social leaders, family of victims, signers of the peace agreement, and the community in general, will participate in events remembering the millions of victims affected by the long-running armed conflict.

Particularly, this year, Colombians will remember the victims of the current violence.

After the signing of the Peace Accords, Colombia has seen a spike in Human Rights abuses.

  • Since the implementation of the peace agreement in November 2016, more than a thousand social leaders and human rights defenders have been assassinated.
  • The displacement of peasants, indigenous people, and Afro-descendants continues to increase. In the first six months of 2020, it was double that of the same period in 2019.
  • In 2020, 91 massacres occurred in Colombia with victims of three or more, double from 2019 during the same period.
  • In 2021, based on data from Indepaz, there have been 26 massacres with 95 victims and thousands of internally displaced people.

Today, we mark a new national Victims’ Day, remembering the millions who have suffered in the long-running armed conflict. The Alliance for Global Justice, commemorates the victims and stand In solidarity with the families of the victims.

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