CREDHOS
CREDHOS is an organisation dedicated to denouncing human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law committed by paramilitary groups and members of the security forces, as well as accompanying victims and survivors of violence in the region of Magdalena Medio. CREDHOS has spoken out against the influence of paramilitary groups and the various acts of intimidation and harassment targeting members of the Corporation. As a result of their legitimate human rights work on behalf of victims and survivors, several members of CREDHOS have been intimidated, attacked, threatened with death, judicially harassed, unfairly imprisoned on unfounded charges and even killed.
The last couple of years of a peace process has raised hopes for an end to the decades long conflict that has plagued Colombia. However, the negotiations between the government and the FARCs have not had a significant impact on the safety and security of human rights defenders in the country, which remains one of the countries with the highest rates of killing of HRDs in the world. This situation seems to have deteriorated in 2015 with the UN highlighting the alarming number of HRDs killed, with 69 between January and August 2015, while the number was 35 for the same period in 2014.
