Colombia activist murders reach record high of 199 this year

Human rights ombudsman decries alarming and unprecedented figure' owing to attacked by illegal armed groups tied to drug trade

Colombia will end the year with at least 199 killings of social leaders and human rights defenders - the highest level recorded - due to attacks by illegal armed groups in areas tied to the drug trade, the country's human rights ombudsman has said.

In the first eleven months of the year, 199 people were murdered, higher than the total number of social leaders and rights defenders killed in 2021 and 2020, when 145 people and 182 people were killed respectively, the ombudsman said.