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UN envoy urges Colombia to act quickly to protect leaders
Updated 5:25 pm CST, Wednesday, January 23, 2019
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The new U.N. envoy for Colombia is urging the government to swiftly implement its plan to protect social leaders, saying seven were killed in just the first week of January.
Carlos Ruiz Massieu told the Security Council on Wednesday that there have also been 31 attacks since U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' latest report was published earlier this month.
He said that according to the Colombian attorney general's investigations, three-quarters of the killings are being committed by "criminal and armed groups" against leaders of "local action boards" and indigenous communities and those active in land reclamation and voluntary crop substitution programs.
Massieu urged the government to quickly implement its plan to protect leaders and to ensure "an effective state presence" in the 10 areas where the killings have taken place.
https://www.chron.com/news/us/article/UN-envoy-urges-Colombia-to-act-quickly-to-protect-13556501.php
(Short article, no more at link.)
