4.3.6. Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities in conflict-areas

4.3.6. Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities in conflict-areas

Despite legal guarantees against it, there were reports of discrimination on the basis of gender, as well as against women, indigenous people, Afro-descendant Colombians, and people with disabilities.1109F⁷²¹ Colombia has a 'solid and advanced' legal and jurisprudential framework that recognises and protects the human rights of indigenous peoples and black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal and Palenquera communities. However, these ethnic peoples are disproportionately affected,722 encounter 'differentiated impacts from the internal armed conflict, and face obstacles in accessing and enjoying their economic, social, cultural and environmental rights', as armed groups take advantage of the lack of state presence in rural areas.723

In October 2025, ACLED provided data to EUAA recording 411 events of civilian targeting by armed groups against 'indigenous groups' and 118 events targeted against 'Afro-Colombian ethnic groups' between August 2022 and October 2025.724

In regions where the state is absent or has little presence, Indigenous and Afro-descendant leaders in the community are at the forefront of encountering armed groups that arrive in their territory to contest the local order and, as a consequence, many social leaders who are murdered come from these communities.725 Ongoing conflicts in areas with ethnic communities have led to restrictions on freedom of movement, imposed curfews, surveillance, and disrupted ways of life.726 Areas where these groups experienced the most mass displacement and confinements were in Antioquia, Cauca, César, Chocó, La Guajira, Magdalena, Nariño, Putumayo, and Valle del Cauca.1157F727

There are approximately 30 (out of 115) indigenous groups at risk of extinction that are protected under orders of the Constitutional Court.1158F728 Indigenous people have been targeted 'by all sides of the country's various conflicts.'1159F729