4.1.9. Violent acts against healthcare and education provision
Different forms of direct and indirect violence against health care institutions and health workers continued to be reported in the reference period in 2023,554 2024,555 and 2025.556 In 2023, there were 511 attacks against healthcare recorded, reaching 'unprecedented numbers', according to the Pan American Health Organization.557 During 2024, ICRC reported 201 infractions against health service providers related to the armed conflict, including threats, restricted access to health, forcing healthcare workers to operate in inadequate conditions, theft of medicine and equipment, and actions hindering the care of sick and wounded people.558 The majority of the ICRC’s reported incidents occurred in Cauca, Antioquia, Arauca, Bolívar, and Chocó.559 In 2025, several incidents were reported, including attacks on medical missions560 and a drone attack on a hospital in Cauca.561 ICRC documented 101 violent acts against healthcare related to the armed conflict in the first half of 2025.562
In a 2024 UN Security Council report, Secretary General addressed the cycles of violence against children, with armed groups using schools for military purposes and attacking schools and hospitals, affecting children.563 Sources indicated that there were increased incidents of attacks on educational facilities in 2024, including the use of unexploded ordnance, compared to 2023.564 The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) recorded 52 attacks on schools or schools routes in the first half of 2025, in the departments of Antioquia, Chocó, Cauca, Norte de Santander, Putumayo, and Valle del Cauca, affecting nearly 9 500 students, teachers, and staff.565
- 554
ICRC, Colombia Humanitarian Report 2024, April 2024, url; PAHO, Act for humanity: Let's protect those who save lives, 19 August 2024, url
- 555
ICRC, La situación humanitaria en Colombia ha seguido deteriorándose en 2024, 3 July 2024, url; ICRC, Health care : another casualty of the armed conflict-Colombia, 27 March 2025, url
- 556
7días.com, ONU condena ataque con explosivos contra hospital en Cauca y alerta por creciente violencia en el suroeste de Colombia, 11 October 2025, url
- 557
PAHO, Act for humanity: Let's protect those who save lives, 19 August 2024, url
- 558
ICRC, Health care : another casualty of the armed conflict-Colombia, 27 March 2025, url
- 559
ICRC, Health care : another casualty of the armed conflict-Colombia, 27 March 2025, url
- 560
Colombia, Ministerio de Salud y Protección Social, El Ministerio de Salud y Protección Social, rechaza con preocupación un nuevo acto que atenta contra labor de la Misión Médica en la Guajira, 15 August 2025, url; Caracol, Suspenden servicios extramurales de salud por ataques a misión médica en el Catatumbo, url
- 561
El Espectador, Atentados en Caloto (Cauca): atacan hospital Niña María y estación de Policía, 11 October 2025, url; OHCHR, Mission in Colombia, X, [11 October 2025], url; El Universal, ONU alerta por ataques a hospitales y civiles en el suroeste de Colombia, 12 October 2025, url
- 562
ICRC, Colombia : 2025 set to be the decade's worst year in humanitarian terms, 30 July 2025, url
- 563
UN Secretary-General on children and armed conflict, Children and Armed Conflict in Colombia – Report of the Secretary-General (S/2024/161), 13 February 2024, url, paras. 19-20; UN Secretary-General on children in armed conflict, Report of the Secretary-General (A/79/878-S/2025/247), 17 June 2025, url, para. 47
- 564
Foro ONG Humanitarias Colombia, Antipersonnel Mines and Other Explosive Devices in Colombia, 2021–2024: A National Overview, 30 September 2025, url, p. 9; NRC, Reporte semestral de escuelas seguras 2025, July 2025, url, p. 2
- 565
NRC, Reporte semestral de escuelas seguras 2025, July 2025, url, p. 1