Extortion, dismemberment, disappearances, killings, kidnappings, torture, forced displacements, death threats, use of landmines and attempted forced recruitment are executed with impunity by Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla forces throughout the mostly Afro-Colombian city of Tumaco and nearby rural areas, according to Human Rights Watch.

Tumaco, in southwestern Colombia, has 200,000 inhabitants, 89 percent of them Afro-Colombian. It's the second largest Pacific port in Colombia, and many of the residents live on land that's collectively governed and owned by "community councils" on reserved land. The municipality's illiteracy, poverty and infant mortality rate is twice the nation average.

HRW has documented abuses occurring in Tumaco since 2013, compiling evidence that FARC is guilty of offenses against community members, including committing acts of sexual violence in the region during 2013 and 2014. Paramilitary successor groups also participated in widespread violence and human rights violations in Tumaco until their operations ceased in late 2013.

The last decade has witnessed FARC and paramilitary successor groups, such as the Rastrojos, vie for control of Tumaco. And even after Rastrojos members were arrested in late 2013, and several neighborhoods successfully expelled the group, the arrival of another paramilitary successor group, the Urabeños, continued to threaten the community -- although FARC's influence is so deeply embedded that their control is nearly uncontested by residents and other armed groups.

"The FARC has a tight grip over the lives of many Tumaco residents, who are forced to keep silent as the guerrillas plant their fields with landmines, drive them from their homes, and kill their neighbors and loved ones with impunity," said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch.

Tumaco has one of the highest rates of officially reported conflict-related sexual abuse and violence, disappearances, homicides, forced displacements and landmine victims in Colombia.

According to government figures, more than 10,000 Tumaco residents have fled their homes annually since 2011. Thousands have been murdered, and hundreds have been disappeared, tortured and forced into recruitment.

There have only been a handful of investigations and far fewer convictions. More than 1,300 homicides have been committed in Tumaco since 2009, and there have only been seven investigations that led to convictions. Prosecutors have not been able to obtain a single conviction out of the nearly 700 investigations into forced displacement and disappearances since 2009. There have only been eight convictions for the 314 investigations into sexual violence.

In the summary of findings presented by HRW, the agency revealed research and details about cases of killings, recruitment, use of children, interference with education, social control, displacement, restrictions on movement, disappearances, kidnapping, socioeconomic exclusion and sexual violence orchestrated by armed forces.

Researchers said families have had to send their daughters away so they wouldn't be forced to become "girlfriends" to the groups, and teenage boys have to flee in order to avoid gun-toting members of the groups and the explosives and antipersonnel landmines that they commonly place roughly 10 yards from the village schools' entrances.

HRW's interviews with witnesses regarding FARC's activities confirmed accusations. Murders carried out by members are not dealt with, and they are often assigned to prosecutors who were unaware of the cases, and hadn't heard of the killings. Witnesses to violence shared how victims were severely beaten, teeth knocked out, hands and feet bound, skin roughly torn and their bodies' discarded.

During May 2014, FARC attacked a group of policemen with an airborne explosive device as they played soccer, resulting in the death of two bystanders, Sebastían Preciado, 13, and Angelo Cabezas, 14. However, the death of the boys represents only a few of the hundreds on the hands of FARC and armed forces terrorizing the municipality.

Human Rights Watch has urged FARC to immediately end abuses against Tumaco citizens, cease use of antipersonnel landmines, disclose details on where landmines are currently laid, stop interrupting children's education and return the remains of disappeared victims. In addition HRW says the Colombian government should address racial discrimination when creating policy to improve the socioeconomic status of residents and help reduce abuses in Tumaco.