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Five things you should know
about the
confinement in Colombia
Updated: 20th October 2024
Photo: Elegant Lab / NRC– Confined community in western Colombia. This community indigenous communities live in constant fear of going to their food crops in the mountains and that are far from their homes for fear of falling into an antipersonnel mine, being victims of sexual violence or being caught in the crossfire.
"The rules imposed by the armed groups are: 'you can't leave'; 'you can't use this road'; 'we don't want anyone passing through here'; 'if you don't obey, they'll threaten you';
'we're trapped'",
said Cecil, teacher indÃgena in the Pacific region.
There are more people confined today than ever before. Hundreds of thousands need help, and humanitarian aid workers are having an increasingly difficult time providing humanitarian assistance. In 2023, humanitarian organisations reported an event about every two days that limited their access to people in need and ability to deliver humanitarian assistance. The situation in 2024 is no better, according to United Nations in the first seven months of 2024, the frequency of these events was alarming, with an average of one event every 36 hours.
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Here’s what you need to know about confinement in the context of the armed conflict in Colombia:​
#1
Confinement is being used as a strategy in the conflict
Confinement is a strategy used by non-state armed actors to exert control especially in hard-to-reach areas where the state is absent. Whoever controls the population also controls the territory and illicit economies.
Threats, the use of landmines, killings, sexual violence, armed violence and the imposition of curfews are intended to restrict the mobility of populations. A confined community is a trapped community.
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#2
A record number of people have been forced into confinement
As of July 2024, at least 111,800 people remained confined in Colombia. During 2024, the number of people confined may exceeded the historical annual figures of the last 10 years due to territorial disputes between armed actors. Between January and October 2024, more than 96,000 people were confined.
After the peace agreement was signed in 2016, confinement events increased, and 2022 was the worst year yet, with about 110,000 people forced into confinement. From 2017 to July 2024, OCHA has reported 328 lockdown events.
#3
Confinement and the struggle for survival
When communities are confined, they are forced to survive on only the food they have in their homes, but supplies can quickly run out. Families are forced to remain in their homes indefinitely, without warning and no possibility to prepare.
Communities are unable to do what they need to do to provide for themselves, such as fishing, hunting and farming, as well as economic activities such as traditional mining or logging.
Children and young people are prevented from going to school.
According to the UN Refugee Agency, the threat to food security due to blockades of villages and the restriction of access to fields of crops and agricultural infrastructure is having devastating effects on the population.
#4
Fear silences the population
Confinement events often occur silently. Many communities do not talk about what is happening to them because people feel threatened and afraid. In addition to restrictions on people’s movements, the necessary resources to meet people’s basic needs are also restricted. Communities sometimes have only two options when they are confined by armed groups: remain silent or suffer the violent consequences. Weak State presence in remote areas continues to have a serious impact for people living in rural areas.
#5
Indigenous and Afro-Colombians are most affected
Lockdowns are disproportionately concentrated in certain areas of the country and continue to increase in the departments of Choco, Valle del Cauca and Nariño, which are primarily home to indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities.
More than half of the instances of confinement in the country are concentrated in Chocó Department, with 147 registered events between January 2017 and July 2024 (OCHA).
In that same period, most reported events affected an ethnic community.
Following threats from armed groups, the most affected municipalities in the country are Alto Baudó and Bojayá in Chocó and Buenaventura, in Valle del Cauca.
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Photo: Elegant Lab / NRC–Confined community in western Colombia. The daily life of the communities is affected by the time restrictions and the threats of the armed groups that seek control of the territories.
"Where I live, we are afraid to walk [outside], we can't do it freely. Whenever the armed groups come, they plant mines. If it's a big artifact, it kills us, and if it's smaller, it rips off a person's limbs, leaving them with an incomplete body,” said Nelsa, who lives in southwestern Colombia.
Together for
serve the
population
An humanitarian response of the MIRE+ consortium implemented by Action Against Hunger (AAH), the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and Médecins du Monde Colombia (MdM); thanks to funding from the European Union, USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
A call to action
We call on the Colombian government and armed groups to negotiate an end to the practice of non-state actors confining entire communities to their homes or territories, restricting their access to health care and education, and limiting their ability to find work.
