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Canada urged to monitor Colombia's fragile peace accord as killings of activists mount
By NICHOLAS KEUNG Immigration Reporter
Mon., Aug. 6, 2018
Colombian Canadians, alarmed at the number of human rights leaders murdered in the South American nation, will gather in Toronto to condemn what they see as a threat to the country’s long-fought peace.
On Tuesday, a rally will be held at 6 p.m. at the Mark Cohen Park near Bloor St. W., and Spadina Ave., to protest the violence and send a message to Colombia’s newly elected right-wing president Ivan Duque to uphold the 2016 Peace Accord.
The agreement, signed by then-President Juan Manuel Santos and rebel leader Timochenko, ended Colombia’s 50-year guerrilla war which left more than 220,000 dead and countless missing and displaced. Rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), was disarmed and demobilized, and a transitional justice system was established to seek out the truth of the conflict.
Since then, the country’s civilian murder rate has reached an all-time low — 24 people per 100,000 last year — however, there has been a surge of killings of community activists who had been trying to enforce the peace agreement.
More:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/07/30/canada-urged-to-monitor-colombias-fragile-peace-accord-as-killings-of-activists-mount.html