Colombia recorded the highest number of displaced people in a decade in 2021, due to violence and threats from illegal armed groups, the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Bogotá reported on Wednesday (September 22nd).
Between January and August, nearly 57,100 people had to flee their homes due to displacement, according to an OCHA report.
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Colombia is currently experiencing the worst resurgence of violence since the signing of the historic 2016 peace agreement with the guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), supposed to pull the country out of six decades of civil war.
The number of displaced persons has already
"doubled and even tripled"
compared to the figures for 2012, explains this document, which reports 110 forced mass displacements across the country, involving 12,000 families.
“The main cause of displacement is the direct threat (45%) against the civilian population by non-state armed groups”
, followed by clashes between these groups (31%).
In addition to these mass displacements, 25,000 people have been individually displaced, OCHA adds.
A myriad of armed groups, FARC dissidents who reject the peace agreement, rebels of the National Liberation Army (ELN), paramilitaries and drug traffickers have invaded the remote territories from which the FARC withdrew, and where the Colombian state is very little present.
These armed groups engage in the production and trafficking of drugs, as well as the illegal exploitation of minerals, especially gold, often competing and fighting fiercely for control of these resources. .
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"There is evidence of a territorial expansion of non-state armed groups (...) which leads to an increase in clashes and, consequently, of the humanitarian impact on the civilian population"
, worries the UN agency.
"The main people affected are the ethnic communities of the departments of the Pacific coast and the north-west of the country"
, strategic points for the armed groups who compete for income from drug trafficking.
They also finance themselves with the proceeds of illegal mining and attack local communities and social leaders who protect the environment and community leaders.
The black (40%) and indigenous (11%) populations are the main victims.
Only 10,158 of the displaced were able to return to their homes.
