Colombia: 181% increase in people displaced by violence in 2021

Nearly 73,000 people have been displaced by violence in Colombia in 2021, a skyrocketing increase of 181%.

According to a report published on Tuesday February 15 by the UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 73,000 Colombians have been forced to flee

under pressure from multiple armed groups operating in the country.

An increase of 181% compared to 2020, underlines this report.

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"The actions of non-state armed groups

(NSAG)

," the UN agency said.

These displaced people had to flee because of the

of these armed groups, or after receiving

and messages.

Also in 2021, 65,600 people had to confine themselves to escape the violence.

And 85,700 people were subjected to restrictions of movement or access to basic services due to curfews or other rules imposed by the same armed groups.

67.5% of those forced to confine themselves were indigenous, and 18% Afro-Colombians.

In the regions of the Pacific coast in particular, in western Colombia, there is a

, adds the report. .

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Choco, Valle del Cauca and Nariño, three drug-producing departments located on drug trafficking routes, represent 75% of the country's population movements in 2021. Here too, black (42%) and indigenous communities ( 15%) were the main victims.

Of the total number of displaced people, 18% are children.

OCHA estimates that only 11,700 of the displaced people (16%) have returned home in 2021.

Colombia is experiencing a serious resurgence of violence by armed groups in remote areas of the country: dissidents from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC, Marxist) who reject the peace agreement, National Liberation Army (ELN, Guevarist), the last guerrilla recognized in the country, heirs to paramilitary groups demobilized in 2006, and other groups of drug traffickers such as the Clan del Golfo.

These groups are vying in particular for control and income from drug trafficking, in territories formerly under the control of the FARC, now demobilized.