According to the international humanitarian organization Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), the number of people forced to flee their homes in Colombia has doubled since the historic peace agreement between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) was signed eight years ago. While more than 130,000 people were forced to flee in Colombia in 2016, NRC estimates that the number of newly displaced people will exceed 260,000 in 2024.
“We recognize recent efforts, but it is of paramount importance that the government's plan to accelerate the implementation of the peace agreement effectively reduces forced displacement. This upward trend cannot continue. It must be stopped immediately,” Giovanni Rizzo, NRC's country director in Colombia, said in a statement on Thursday.
“If displacement was a thermometer of peace, then Colombia's health would be failing.”
Threats, torture, killings, armed combat, bombs, the use of anti-personnel mines, forced recruitment, violence and land dispossession continue to be some of the main causes of displacement in Colombia.
According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), approximately 5.1 million people are currently internally displaced as a result of violence and conflict. The NRC estimates that 1.5 million of these people have been displaced since the signing of the peace agreement in 2016.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), nearly 8.4 million Colombians continue to live in areas where non-state armed actors are present. The number of people trapped in confinement also continues to rise. Between January and October 2024, more than 100,000 people were confined, compared to 65,000 during the same period in 2023.
Amid the ongoing humanitarian response, efforts to help people recover from displacement lack adequate funding. As of October 2024, only four percent of the funding requested by humanitarian actors in Colombia has been allocated to help communities recover after crisis.
“The Colombian Government and international community must provide the support necessary to allow displaced Colombians to rebuild their lives. This is key to achieve a sustainable peace,” said Rizzo.
The NRC urges all parties to the conflict to prioritize peace negotiations to end six decades of suffering and human rights violations. A negotiated peace is the only way to end the conflict, it says.
In 2024, some 8.3 million people - out of a population of 52 million - are in need of life-saving and life-sustaining humanitarian assistance and protection. To date, 56 percent of the US$332 million requested for the Colombia 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) has been funded.
Early recovery is the most underfunded sector in the HRP; in 2024, the international community requested $34 million, and only $1.2 million has been reported as received for this sector.
Colombia faces one of the worst internal displacement situations in the world, linked to six decades of conflict and violence. The government and the FARC signed a peace agreement in November 2016, which was a significant development and raised hopes for durable solutions for the country's internally displaced persons (IDPs).
However, eight years after the signing of the peace accord, the humanitarian situation in Colombia is still characterized by large-scale internal displacement and insecurity due to armed violence, perpetuated by widespread illicit drug production and trafficking, and rooted in territorial control by non-state armed groups (NSAGs) that continue to operate in the country. Civilians in different parts of Colombia suffer serious human rights violations at the hands of these armed groups.
According to the Protection Cluster Colombia, led by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the country faces ongoing armed conflict, mixed migratory flows and the impacts of climate change, which have increasingly limited access to basic rights for communities in remote rural areas and urban peripheries.
In a report released on Thursday, the Protection Cluster said the fragmentation of non-state armed groups and the intensification of conflicts among them have frayed the social fabric of affected communities, severely hampering access to rights, while compromising freedoms, security and autonomy, thus straining the state's capacity to protect.
According to the humanitarian coordination group, the increased impact of natural hazards linked to climate change and the integration of 2.9 million Venezuelan refugees are also driving humanitarian needs in Colombia. Violence between non-state armed groups and recurrent natural disasters continue to displace people, exacerbating food insecurity and health concerns among vulnerable groups.
Despite ongoing humanitarian efforts, the continued influx of refugees and migrants due to the Venezuelan migration crisis, whether in transit to third countries or seeking to settle in Colombia, requires significant government support in areas such as health, education and employment, particularly in border regions.
In 2024, Colombia has experienced a significant increase in natural disasters, adding to the already complex humanitarian situation resulting from armed conflict and mixed movements. Adverse weather events, exacerbated by climate change, have disproportionately hit the most vulnerable communities, including those affected by conflict and mixed migration.
The Protection Cluster reports that floods and landslides have struck several regions, affecting not only conflict-affected communities but also refugees and migrants. The "El Niño" phenomenon has been particularly devastating, underscoring the urgent need to intensify mitigation and prevention efforts to avert a more severe humanitarian crisis in the coming months.
The Global Protection Cluster (GPC) is a network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), international organizations and United Nations agencies engaged in protection work in humanitarian crises, including armed conflicts and disasters.
Further information
Full text: Colombia: 1.5 million displaced post peace agreement, NRC, press release, published November 21, 2024
https://www.nrc.no/news/2024/november/colombia-1.5-million-displaced-post-peace-agreement
Full text: Colombia Protection Analysis Update, Protection Cluster Colombia, report, published November 21, 2024
https://globalprotectioncluster.org/sites/default/files/2024-11/pau24_protection_analysis_update_colombia_oct-24_english_revfinal.pdf