UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, established its presence in Colombia in 1997 to support the creation of a national asylum system and to respond to the internal conflict, contributing to the prevention of forced displacement.

Nowadays in Colombia UNHCR works for the protection of all the people under our mandate: internally displaced persons (IDPs), confined communities, people affected by armed conflict, Venezuelan refugees and migrants, people with international protection needs caught up in mixed movements, Colombian returnees, people at risk of statelessness, as well as their host communities.

In recent years, Colombia has seen an inflow of millions of refugees and migrants from Venezuela, the largest forced displacement crisis ever in Latin America. Colombia is the third country hosting the largest number of refugees and other people in need of international protection, with over 2.8 million Venezuelans . Colombia is also a major transit route towards Central and North America, with more than 520,000 individuals crossing the Darién in 2023, and a similar trend expected for 2024.

The country´s various internal conflicts continue to generate displacement: over 1.3 million people have been displaced since the signing of the 2016 Peace Agreement, and Colombia is the fourth country with the highest number of internally displaced persons in the world (7 million IDPs).

Forcibly displaced populations are spread across the country, oftentimes in hard-to-reach areas. UNHCR’s field presence is essential and focused in areas with the greatest concentration of persons of concern, including urban centers (e.g. Barranquilla, Bogotá, Cali, Cúcuta and Medellín), border areas with Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama and the Pacific Coast region.

This website provides key data on the situation in Colombia, along with in-depth analysis of the conditions faced by forcibly displaced populations throughout the country.

UNHCR Colombia works together with other UN Agencies and humanitarian organizations for a coordinated response to the people with and for whom UNHCR works.