The forensic report highlights the 6% increase in sexual violence – compared to January-May – from 7,544 complaints in 2020 to 7,991 this year. Women are the most affected by this type of violence: 6,945 cases have been reported this year, compared to 1,046 men. The Institute of Forensic Medicine presented a document in which the official figures on violent deaths in 2020 are published. Although the year was marked by the coronavirus pandemic, a total of 21,602 violent deaths were recorded and 51% were homicides. Another figure highlighted by Legal Medicine is that in the nine months of 2022, 758 homicides were female. 92.7% of the 4,986 people killed between January and May 2021 were men, while 363 – 7.3% – were women. That is, compared to 2020, there was an increase of 1,018 male and 114 female homicide victims. At this point, the report pointed out that this year is the year that has recorded the most homicides in the country recently, with 9,672 deaths recorded for the same period in 2021, 172 fewer than this year, 7,877 homicides were documented in 2020 and 8,612 in 2019. In addition, Legal Medicine presented the sexual violence figures, which also do not represent a favorable outlook for 2021, with a total of 7,991 cases this year, of which 6,945 are directed against women and 1,046 against men. In comparison, 7,544 cases were registered in 2020 (6,400 women), while in 2019 there were 5,389 “forensic examinations for alleged sexual offences” in the context of domestic violence without gender discrimination. For Fabio Zambrano, a professor at the National University, there are other factors that, although they do not mark a direct causal link, influence the increase in murders in the country. (Read also: It was the support of a mayor in the invasion of paramilitaries in Bojayá) “Phenomena such as the proliferation of firearms, the increase in acres of coca cultivation in the country and drug trafficking, the deterioration of institutional relations between police and society, or the increase in drug use around the world create contexts linked to the increase in homicides in countries like ours.” Zambrano said.

Legal Medicine reported that between January and September 2022, 9,844 homicides were recorded in the country, the equivalent of 36 violent deaths per day in various regions of Colombia. April saw the largest decline, reaching 33 percent, the month with the largest drop in 2020, a period in which there were a total of 631 cases, an average of 21 daily cases. (You may be interested: A recently graduated FARC former guerrilla assassinated in Cauca) The forensic report shows that the largest number of people who lost their lives violently were aged 29 to 59 (2,440), followed by citizens aged 18 to 28 (2,108). Of the reported cases, 215 individuals were over 60 years of age; 194, aged 12 to 17; 19, between 0 and 5 years. The age group with the fewest homicides is between 6 and 11 years with 10 cases. Regarding vulnerability factors associated with violent deaths, the entity noted that people belonging to ethnic communities (indigenous or Afro) are more at risk: 239 were killed during this period of 2021, 178 more than the previous year. They are followed by natural or synthetic drug addicts, with 227 cases in 2021; farmers with 130 homicides; homeless at age 87; displaced person at age 62; Ex-offenders at age 23 and LGBTIQ community at age 22. However, according to Legal Medicine records, these factors were not identified in 60.7% of homicides (3,029 out of 4,986). Records show that there were 3,296 more violent deaths than in 2020. Unlike the first five months of 2019 – when there was no pandemic – when 4,658 homicides were recorded, the increase in 2021 is 7%. Compared to 2018, when there were 4,665 murders, the increase is 6.8%.

Comparing the murder rate per hundred thousand inhabitants, it should be remembered that last year it reached an average of 23.82, the lowest in the last 46 years, according to the National Police. In this sense, perhaps a better point of comparison would be 2019, a year in which, under normal conditions, a total of 4,927 homicides were reported in the first five months. However, it goes without saying that the number of violent deaths increased by 1.19% between last year and this year, which remains a change that must be taken into account in terms of citizens` safety. After all, the report notes that there were 4,986 cases of this crime, an increase of 1,066 deaths compared to the same period in 2020, an increase of 27.1%. It is worth noting the differences between the different years, due, among other things, to the isolation caused by Covid-19 between March and September last year and the national strike that has been taking place since April 28 this year. The Legal Medicine report shows that of the 26,803 violent deaths, 13,032 were homicides; 7,307 are related to traffic accidents; 3,149 with other types of accidents and 2,595 suicides. In the report, Legal Medicine pointed out that it is worrying that of these more than nine thousand homicides, 469 correspond only to children and adolescents, which is alarming that in Mitú, Vaupés, 282 of these murders of minors are recorded. In the list of the 10 departments with the most murder cases are: Valle del Cauca with 1,963 cases (-8% compared to 2019); Antioquia, with 1,743 (-18%); Bogotá, D.C., with 989 (-9%); Cauca with 731 (15%); Norte de Santander, with 572 (-2%); Atlantic, with 530 (-2%); Bolívar, with 409 (13 per cent); Nariño, with 364 (-5%); Cundinamarca with 332 (-1%) and Santander with 286 (-8%). At the beginning of 2021, according to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, 4,986 homicides were recorded between January and May, which is accompanied by the reactivation of the country in various sectors, after the same period last year, there was a scenario of isolation due to the pandemic.