By Andrés Osorio Guillot, Newsletter Coordinator,
EL ESPECTADOR, February 5, 2026
For full article: elespectador.com/judicial/colombia-entre-guerra-e-impunidad-el-duro-informe-de-human-rights-watch-sobre-violencia-y-derechos-humanos/
(Translated by Eunice Gibson, CSN Volunteer Translator)
The most recent HRW (Human Rights Watch) report on security, violence, and human rights in the world puts Colombia under the microscope once more. In the context of increasing violence at the beginning of a year of high electoral tension, the organization warns that this country not only continues to be trapped in persistent conflict, but it also maintains a deep debt to the victims.
This X-ray is nothing new, but it’s more alarming. Murders of social leaders, kidnappings, confinements, recruiting of children, and paralyzed peace talks continue from one day to the next. Added to that—according to the report—a government response that continues to be insufficient to protect the population, guarantee justice, and dismantle the armed groups.
- Increasing violence
HRW points out that the security forces and the judicial authorities have not been able to protect the population effectively nor assure the victims’ access to justice. Statistics confirm that. Let’s look at some from last year.
- Kidnappings increased more than 190%
- Confinements increased by 50%
- Recruitment of children increased by more than 270%
- The rate of homicides increased 1.4%
Since the signing of the Peace Agreement with the FARC in 2016, at least 1,500 human rights leaders have been murdered. And even though the Attorney General’s Office opened 1,381 investigations between 2016 and 2024, only 16.5% ended in convictions. The rest of the cases remain in impunity.
- Total peace and the danger in the countryside
Juanita Goebertus, HRW’s Director for the Americas, questions the lack of a strategic criminal prosecution policy and warns of the separation between security policy, the policy of “total peace”, and institutional efforts. According to the report, this gap has facilitated the territorial expansion of the armed groups, even those that are negotiating with the government.
HRW also puts a microscope on the Temporary Location Zones (ZUT in Spanish) that are intended to advance the dialogs with the Clan del Golfo, a measure that includes the suspension of arrest warrants. For Human Rights Watch, decisions like that could strengthen the armed groups, as happened in Catatumbo at the beginning of 2025, where combat between the FARC Dissidents and the ELN provoked the forced displacement of more than 64,000 people.
- The humanitarian crisis and corruption
The report also warns about the increase in forced displacement (84% in 2025) and the confinement of more than 137,000 people in regions like Cauca, Norte de Santander, and Antioquia. At the same time, HRW mentions the scandal of alleged corruption in the Armed Forces that compromised national security and increased the necessity for counterintelligence measures.
A positive point that they also mention is that complaints about the abuses by the Armed Forces have diminished in the last three months. Nevertheless, HRW insists on the urgency of broader reforms, especially to limit the jurisdiction of the Military Criminal Justice system in cases of human rights violations.
*Elections under alert
The conclusions in the report arrive at a key moment. In the face of Congressional and Presidential elections in 2026, HRW warns of risks to civil and political rights in at least 224 municipalities. The increase in forced recruitment of children—625 cases reported in 2024—reinforces the seriousness of the outlook.
“Reading the statistics and working in the countryside leads us to the sorrowful conclusion that the policy of ‘total peace’ and the government’s security policy have been failures,” concludes Goebertus.