Why Colombia?

Children in Colombia continue to face poverty, violence and inequality driven by decades of armed conflict, displacement and social exclusion.

Despite important social and economic progress in recent years, Colombia remains one of the most unequal countries in Latin America. While poverty levels have fallen to their lowest point in recent history, an estimated 28% of the population was still living in poverty in 2025, rising to 39.5% in rural areas, where access to education, healthcare, employment opportunities and basic services remains limited.

For more than 60 years, Colombia’s armed conflict has involved guerrilla groups, paramilitary organisations and state forces. The conflict has claimed over 200,000 lives, while estimates suggest that between 80,000 and 120,000 people have disappeared, although the true number remains unknown. More than 8 million Colombians have been internally displaced by violence.

The 2016 peace agreement between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) represented an important milestone and initially contributed to declining levels of violence. However, armed conflict continues in several parts of the country, with illegal armed groups maintaining control over territory and communities and the Total Peace programme of the previous president failed.

Murder, extortion, child recruitment, sexual violence and other human rights abuses continue to force families from their homes. In early 2025, renewed fighting in the Catatumbo region displaced more than 56,000 people in a matter of months, marking one of the largest mass displacement events in Colombia in decades.

Colombia is also prone to natural disasters; Chocó suffered from floods and landslides in 2024 affecting more than 180,000 people, and Córdoba in 2026, damaging over 12,000 homes. These cause widespread devastation through agricultural destruction which leads to economic disruption, mass displacement, and death.

Colombia also hosts one of the world’s largest refugee and migrant populations, including approximately 2.8–2.9 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants. Combined with ongoing internal displacement, this has placed additional pressure on already overstretched services and support systems. The 2026 Earthquake in Venezuela also increased the Venezuelan diaspora in Colombia.

As the humanitarian situation becomes increasingly complex, children living in informal urban settlements and conflict-affected rural communities remain particularly vulnerable to violence, exploitation and exclusion.