Colombia Conflict Displaces 235,619 in 2025 as Red Cross Calls Civilian Toll Worst in 10 Years
Updated
Updated · Reuters · May 12
Colombia Conflict Displaces 235,619 in 2025 as Red Cross Calls Civilian Toll Worst in 10 Years
11 articles · Updated · Reuters · May 12
235,619 Colombians were individually displaced in 2025, while 87,069 were uprooted in mass events and 176,730 were confined, marking the worst civilian impact from the conflict in a decade, the ICRC said.
Those tolls surged as hostilities intensified and armed groups increasingly ignored humanitarian law; individual displacement doubled from 2024, mass displacement jumped 111%, and confinement rose 99%.
965 people were killed or injured by explosives—mostly civilians—and the ICRC documented 308 new disappearances, with explosive casualties up 34% and disappearances up 22% from a year earlier.
The report also logged 282 violent acts against health workers and said civilians faced killings, threats, sexual violence, and child recruitment.
ICRC regional chief Olivier Dubois said the 2025 crisis reflects a deterioration the organization has warned about since 2018 in Colombia's six-decade conflict among state forces, guerrillas, and criminal groups.
When child recruitment quadruples and the state fails to protect them, is Colombia creating an entire lost generation?
With its peace strategy failing, will Colombia's election usher in a return to hardline military tactics against armed groups?
As illicit gold fuels the conflict more than cocaine, can financial regulations succeed where the war on drugs has failed?
Colombia’s 2025-2026 Crisis: Armed Group Expansion, Humanitarian Emergency, and the High-Stakes 2026 Election
Overview
In 2025, Colombia’s humanitarian crisis sharply escalated as non-state armed groups and criminal organizations consolidated power across large regions, establishing illegal armed governance from Catatumbo to the Pacific coast. This shift subjected vulnerable populations, especially indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities, to severe human rights abuses such as forced displacement, selective killings, and child recruitment. Daily life for many Colombians was fundamentally changed, with fear and coercion becoming widespread. The entrenchment of these groups and their abuses have not only deepened civilian suffering but also fueled political instability, shaping the country’s volatile landscape ahead of the 2026 elections.