BOGOTA, May 12 – The humanitarian impact on civilians from Colombia’s armed conflict reached its worst level in a decade in 2025 due to increased hostilities and armed groups’ disregard for humanitarian law, an International Red Cross Committee report said Tuesday.
Colombia has endured an internal conflict for six decades, with state forces battling leftist guerrillas and criminal gangs fighting for territorial control of strategic drug trafficking routes and illicit gold extraction.
BY THE NUMBERS
• At least 235,619 people were individually displaced, 87,069 were displaced in mass displacement events, and 176,730 were confined, such as when an armed group imposes curfews or limits mobility, based on official government figures.
• Individual displacement grew 100%, mass displacement 111%, and confinement 99% compared to 2024.
• The 2025 annual report recorded 965 people injured or killed by explosives, mostly civilians, and documented 308 new disappearances.
• Deaths or injuries from explosives like mines increased 34% in 2025, while disappearances rose 22%.
• The report recorded 282 violent acts on health workers related to the armed conflict.
• “The humanitarian situation in 2025 results from progressive deterioration that the ICRC has warned about since 2018,” said Olivier Dubois, the organization’s regional chief in Colombia’s capital Bogota.
• Civilians also faced homicides, disappearances, threats, sexual violence and recruitment of children and adolescents, the report said. REUTERS
