GENEVA (UN Refugee Agency)* –As violence escalates and humanitarian needs intensify across Colombia, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, warns that years of progress in protecting and integrating displaced populations risk being lost, and the most vulnerable – children, women and displaced families – will pay the highest price.
Refugees and internally displaced populations may be forced to move again in search of safety and stability, while returnees will not find conditions to settle again.
Colombia hosts one of the largest uprooted populations in the world, with over 7 million internally displaced people, nearly 3 million Venezuelans refugees and migrants, and more than 500,000 Colombian returnees.
(UN News)* — With humanitarian aid in decline, the international community must shift its focus from short-term relief efforts to inclusive policies that support both refugees and host communities.
PAHO/Karen González Abril | Venezuelan refugees make their way to the Colombian border town of La Guajira.
In 2024, 122 million people were forcibly displaced — a number expected to rise in the coming years, according to Bob Rae, President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), addressing a meeting on the pressing issue in New York on .
As population movements become much more complex due to wars disproportionately impacting civilians, climate disasters, hunger and poverty, 70 per cent of refugees live in low to middle-income countries.
People across Latin America fleeing violence face movement restrictions, exploitation, and asylum barriers, according to a new report by Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), and partners through the ProLAC initiative.
Refugees and migrants from all over the world reach Necocli in Colombia on their journey in search of protection and a better life. Photo: Jess Wanless/NRC
One in four families interviewed for the report said that their lives would be at risk if they returned to their place of origin.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 