Bogota - (AFP) - At least 122 human rights defenders were killed during the first seven months of this year in Colombia , which is more than the number recorded during the same period in the year 2021, an official source said Friday.

The Office of the People's Defender announced in a statement that "between January 1 and July 31, 2022, 122 murders were committed against social leaders and human rights defenders."

During the same period in 2021, ninety murders of activists were committed, while the death toll reached 145 crimes over the entire past year, according to the same source. He noted that 27 of the people assassinated in 2022 were indigenous leaders.

"The killings of social leaders and human rights defenders represent a serious assault on societies and on democracy. They are the representatives and voice of the most vulnerable," mediator Carlos Camargo said in the statement.

Social and community leaders and defenders of human rights and the environment are a target of several armed groups active in rural areas of Colombia, which have witnessed a resurgence of violence in recent years.

According to NGOs, FARC defectors, ELN guerrillas, paramilitary groups, and drug traffickers are primarily responsible for these attacks, but are sometimes state agents.

The provinces most affected are Cauca, Nariño, Antioquia and Putumayo, where armed groups compete to control drug trafficking.

Colombia is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for activists, people's representatives and other civil society activists, according to NGOs such as Global Witness International.

New Colombian President Gustavo Petro, elected in June as the first left-wing president in the country's history, has expressed his desire to mobilize the security forces to better protect social leaders and activists under threat.