IACHR issues report on the impact of violence on human rights in Colombia

December 17, 2025

Washington, DC—The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued the report Impact of Violence on the Situation of Human Rights in Colombia, the outcome of an on-site visit to the country conducted over the period April 15–19, 2024. The report looks into the effects of violence on human rights in Colombia and into the State’s responses in that context. The IACHR makes 57 recommendations, that include holding national talks focused on peace; effectively implementing the Peace Agreement; and adopting policies that focus on eradicating poverty and mitigating inequality.

The report examines the impact of a drawn-out armed conflict; the expansion of illegal armed groups (including organized crime) and the illicit economy; institutional violence; barriers in access to justice; and the structural crisis of the Colombian prison system. The report also assesses the country’s main public policies for peace, identifying progress and pending challenges with a historical, territorial, and intersectional perspective.

The document analyzes the differentiated impact of violence and poverty, taking into consideration the inequality and structural discrimination that persist in Colombia. It looks into the persistent gaps that disproportionately affect indigenous peoples, Afro-descendant and peasant communities, women, LGBTI persons, children and adolescents, older persons, persons with disabilities, and victims of forced displacement.

The report understands violence as a structural phenomenon linked to armed conflict, the illicit economy, and historical inequalities, with a differentiated impact on specific groups. The IACHR examines the various forms of violence, including homicide, mass killings, gender-based violence, forced recruitment, displacement, confinement, and territorial control exercised by non-State armed groups and criminal organizations. The report further assesses the State’s responses and finds evidence of persisting institutional weaknesses.

The document addresses institutional violence as a structural expression of discrimination and inequality, stemming both from direct State action and from State omissions. In this context, the IACHR examines the hurdles in access to justice, the widespread impunity, and the territorial, ethnic and racial, and gender barriers that are in place. The report also looks at the crisis of the prison system, to highlight the need for structural reform with an intersectional and territorial focus.

The report examines public policies for peace as a response to structural inequalities and to the effects of armed conflict, paying special attention to the reforms that have been implemented since the 1991 Constitution was enacted and to the way those reforms have been deepened based on the 2016 Peace Agreement. The IACHR looks into progress made and pending challenges concerning the Integrated System for Truth, Justice, Reparation, and Non-Recurrence; comprehensive land reform; political participation; and guarantees with regard to victims’ rights. The report further assesses the implementation of the Total Peace policy and the challenges that remain pending to consolidate stable, inclusive, and sustainable peace, with territorial, ethnic, gender, and other differentiated perspectives.

The report reaches the conclusion that persistent armed conflict has led to a violent social order in several parts of Colombia, where human life has come to be considered worthless and social relations have come to be built around fear, coercion, and exclusion. The IACHR notes the long absence of the State that enabled a consolidation of the illicit economy and of criminal structures and had a direct impact on democracy, the rule of law, and the effective enjoyment of human rights by individuals and whole communities who had been left extremely vulnerable.

The IACHR acknowledges the fact that Colombia has undertaken a paradigm shift with regard to violence and is making progress toward developing a human security policy based on rights, dignity, and participation. However, structural hurdles persist that make it difficult to implement the Peace Agreement and to comprehensively comply with the State’s international obligations.

With a view to supporting State efforts to address the challenges identified in the report, the IACHR makes 57 specific recommendations. The IACHR stresses its commitment to helping Colombia to protect and defend human rights in the context of the violence and inequalities identified in the report.

The IACHR is an autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS) whose mandate is based on the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. Its mission is to promote and defend human rights throughout the Americas and to serve as an advisory body to the OAS in this area. The IACHR consists of seven independent members elected by the OAS General Assembly who serve in a personal capacity and do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 268/25

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