Event Summary
November 2025 witnessed a surge in targeted killings of social and indigenous leaders in Colombia by armed groups, deepening fears for minority rights and civic space. On 27 November 2025, Niver Membache Piraza, an indigenous leader of the Wounaan-Khirardú people, was murdered in Buenaventura while with his family. Just two days earlier, on 25 November, Eduardo Campo, an indigenous guard and community representative of the Nasa peoples, was killed after being intercepted on a road in La Plata (Huila)/Cauca. Both were targeted for their roles defending indigenous rights, adding to the growing number of social leaders killed in 2025.
These attacks create an atmosphere of fear, weaken indigenous governance structures, and severely undermine the enabling environment for civil society, particularly for minority groups. Constitutional guarantees and international obligations under ICCPR Articles 6 and 25 and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples are being undermined, signaling a serious deterioration in the enabling environment for civil society, eroding trust in state protection and deepening fear among minority groups.