Violence and threats made against land rights campaigners has also undermined gains made in land restitution efforts. Under the land restitution programme, about 200,000 hectares of land has so far been handed back, together with land titles awarded by judges, benefiting about 20,000 Colombians. The office of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia documented 41 rights activists were killed in 2015, including land rights campaigners. The issue of returning stolen and abandoned land to its rightful owners and Colombia's unequal land distribution have been key discussion points at peace talks taking place in Cuba. But this accounts for just a fraction of the stolen and abandoned land.

Source: dna August 09, 2016 04:52 UTC