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| - Dozens of human rights defenders in Colombia have suffered attacks when speaking out against the government and major national and international companies, a UN special rapporteur said on Wednesday. Indigenous people, Afro-Colombians, environmentalists and peasants "suffer violations and abuses of their rights when defending the land, the environment and human rights," said Michel Forst, the UN's special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, in a report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The attacks come when they raise their voices "against state interests and non-state actors such as national and international companies," he said. Between 2015 and 2018 there were 115 recorded incidents "that included acts of intimidation, criminalization, forced displacement and even murders of rights defenders in areas of strong business activity," said Forst. That is on top of the risks and violence rights defenders face from armed criminal gangs and drug traffickers. Although violence has decreased since the 2016 peace accord signed between the government and FARC Marxist guerrillas, there remain numerous armed groups in Colombia, which has suffered six decades of violent uprising. The UN says at least 108 rights activists were murdered in 2019 and 115 in 2018, mostly in drug trafficking areas. Colombia's government severely criticized Forst's report and has previously accused these annual reports of being biased and inaccurate. "The claims against state and private enterprises that allegedly intimidate, criminalize or stigmatize rights defenders, and the alleged collusion between state security forces and illegal groups (are) serious accusations that are made without substance or verified investigations," the foreign ministry said in a statement. Forst expressed particular concern over the "apparent connection" between Canadian public gas and oil exploration company Frontera Energy, the Colombian army and the attorney general's office in the "criminalization" of those defending land rights and the environment in the east of the country. Frontera Energy stressed in a statement issued on Wednesday its "commitment to the protection of human rights." dl/raa/vel/rsr/bc/it
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