Candelaria Barrios Acosta
Candelaria Barrios Acosta is a member of Movimiento de Víctimas de Crímenes de Estado (MOVICE Movement of Victims of State Crimes) in Sucre, Colombia, and is the sister of Carmelo de Jesus Barrios Acosta, who was murdered by paramilitaries on 15 November 2006. MOVICE is a national human rights organisation working with victims of the armed conflict, monitoring and seeking justice for human rights violations committed by the State and paramilitaries.
HRDs in Colombia work in a violent and unsafe environment. They are subjected to threats, intimidation, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, physical assaults, torture, killings, illegal searches of their homes and offices and stigmatisation as a result of their activities in defence of human rights. The perpetrators of these abuses are frequently paramilitary groups, many of whom have links to the government or security services, or armed opposition groups. The continued frequent and severe threats and attacks against HRDs around the country contradict government claims of paramilitary demobilisation.
