In 2023 there were at least 66 acts of violence against the LGBTIQ+ population.
Photo: GUSTAVO TORRIJOS
At least 1,277 victimizations, of which 497 correspond to loss of life, occurred in Colombia during 2023 as a consequence of human rights violations and acts of political violence. This is how they explained it Popular Research and Education Center (CINEP) and the NGO Diverse Colombia in the most recent edition of the magazine Noche y Niebla, which monitors the panorama of violence in the country.
“We don’t really like to insist on numbers but, in any case, the fact that the number of lives destroyed is around half a thousand is very high. Of them, 111 were grassroots social leaders, so it is not just about eliminating one person, but about a social project, a demand, a movement for the rights of the most humble groups,” he told Colombia+20. priest Javier Giraldo, CINEP researcher.
Violence against the LGBTIQ+ population increased
One of the main alerts of the document is the 12% increase in murders of people with social leadership belonging to the LGBTIQ+ population during the past year (there were 10 of the 111 homicides of documented leaders).
“It is striking that LGBTIQ+ defenders are beginning to appear in the figures. It should be noted that many times they are not perceived as legitimate in their defense; on the contrary, they are seen as a moral threat to the nation or the family, and the defense of the equality of LGBTIQ+ people is not seen as legitimate. All of this means that they may be more vulnerable and have even less social support in their communities,” said Marcela Sánchez Buitrago, director of Colombia Diversa.
Read: “They kill them for existing”: this is how LGBT people have been affected in the conflict
Alarms were also raised by the situation in Cauca, which accounts for 28.7% of all cases of violence recorded nationwide. In other words, more than a quarter of the total events are concentrated in just one of the country’s 32 departments.
Noche y Niebla recorded 1,207 cases of violence
The recent edition of the magazine assures that in 2023, as a result of human rights violations, at least 457 people received threats; 169 suffered physical injuries, 29 were tortured; 27 were forcibly disappeared and the same number were attacked. Regarding the 471 people lost who were murdered, the report indicates that they correspond to different forms of violence, including extrajudicial executions, intentional homicides and murders for political reasons or social intolerance.
Of the 1,207 cases, 446 correspond to human rights violations, whose main perpetrators would be paramilitary groups (370 incidents), members of the Police (39) and Army troops (34).
Regarding the 201 victims of Customary International Humanitarian Law, it is estimated that 125 were perpetrated by guerrilla groups, 41 by members of the ELN and 30 more by combatants.
Regarding cases of political-social violence, 630 were registered (in these there is no clearly defined alleged perpetrator).
