Speaking before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, IACHR, on Wednesday, Colombian human rights groups denounced the government of Juan Manuel Santos for inaction and silence as Afro-Colombian social activists and leaders continue to be murdered in the midst of the ongoing peace process.

“Since the signing of the peace agreement in November, over 200 murders of social leaders have been reported, many among them Afro-Colombian, even though the protection of such leaders is a component of the peace agreement,” Conpa Charo, the head of the human rights group Proceso de Comunidades Negras, PCN, said. Rural Workers’ Union Chief Killed July 2017

The PCN, along with the Racial Discrimination Observatory and the Center for Law, Justice, and Society Studies, issued the complaint before the 163rd session of the IACHR being held in Lima, Peru this week.

The groups urged the state to expedite the process of passing laws to protect social leaders that are already included in the peace agreements.

Charo said that although as part of the peace agreement between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the Colombian government it was established that the government must develop mechanisms to guarantee protection to former FARC members and social activists, the measures have for the most part not been taken yet.

During the hearing, ongoing violence against Indigenous communities was also presented and the “violence perpetrated by the Colombian State against the people of Buenaventura” during the 22-day strike in May.

FARC formally handed over all of their weapons to the United Nations in June, officially ending the conflict, however throughout the demobilization process violence has even increased in some areas due to the ongoing presence of paramilitary terrorists.

The government has previously been criticized for acting too slowly to implement protections, and for failing to acknowledge their presence.