New report cites mass displacement, confinement and continued violence against vulnerable communities.
On Thursday, the Ombudsman’s Office published a report showing that the Colombian armed conflict caused forced displacement and confinement affecting more than 80,000 people during the first half of 2026.
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During that period, authorities recorded 83 incidents of mass forced displacement, affecting 15,960 people, and 44 incidents of confinement that restricted the movement of another 64,787 people. These events occurred mainly in the departments of Norte de Santander, Cauca and Nariño.
The Ombudsman’s Office attributed these emergencies primarily to threats, armed clashes, drone attacks, terrorist acts, and fighting among armed groups. These forms of violence continue to disproportionately affect Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and rural communities in different regions of the country.
“The humanitarian crisis continues to deepen in the territories most affected by the armed conflict,” the Ombudsman’s Office said, calling for stronger prevention and protection measures for communities exposed to violence.
Colombia faces an invisible crisis of displacement – Vatican News https://t.co/9uPlNjiOLV
— JoAnn Dolberg (@JoAnnDolberg) July 16, 2026
Two months ago, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, part of the Norwegian Refugee Council, ranked Colombia as the country with the world’s second-largest number of internally displaced people, with 7.2 million people at the end of 2025, behind only Sudan.
On Thursday, the Ombudsman’s Office also revealed that 10,936 children and adolescents made an irregular transit through Colombia during the first half of this year.
They represented 21.1% of the 51,938 migrants recorded during that period. However, irregular migration flows declined 38.2% compared with the same period in 2025.
The reduction was attributed to the tightening of immigration policies in countries to the north of the continent, which have discouraged transit through Colombia toward Central America and the U.S.
The Ombudsman’s Office reiterated the need to strengthen protection pathways for displaced people and migrants, with special attention to children, ethnic communities and people exposed to risks stemming from the armed conflict.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
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