Colombia

Protection Issues

Colombia faces a deteriorating protection crisis in 2025, driven by disputes between non-state armed groups for territorial and social control, with severe impacts in areas such as Catatumbo, Chocó, Cauca, Nariño, Arauca and the Pacific region. Armed conflict and violence continue to expose communities to forced displacement, confinement, killings, disappearances, extortion, recruitment and use of children, gender-based violence, explosive ordnance, restrictions on movement and threats against community leaders and human rights defenders. In Catatumbo alone, violence since January 2025 affected around 90,000 people, including more than 62,000 people forcibly displaced and more than 27,000 confined, while humanitarian access has been constrained by insecurity and anti-personnel mines.

The crisis reflects the fragmentation of armed actors, limited State presence in some territories, illicit economies and the weakening of civilian protection mechanisms. Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities, children and adolescents, women, rural communities, social leaders, peace agreement signatories, refugees and migrants are particularly exposed. By 2025, escalating territorial disputes remained a major driver of displacement, while confinement continued to restrict access to food, health care, livelihoods, education and protection services, with serious psychosocial consequences for affected communities.