UNICEF in Colombia
Humanitarian needs in Colombia are fueled by armed conflict, the impacts of climate change and other factors. Learn how UNICEF is assisting children and how to help support those efforts.
Humanitarian needs in Colombia made critical by armed conflict
Nicknamed “The Gateway to South America” because of its location as a nexus between two continents, Colombia’s geographic position also puts the country at the center of a number of major crises.
The South American nation remains plagued by armed conflict, even after the 2016 peace treaty between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Fighting between guerrilla groups involved in cocaine trafficking in the Catatumbo region is the latest flareup in 60 years of ongoing violence that continues to put children in danger.
Minors are at a particularly high risk of physical harm, attacks on schools, gender-based violence, displacement and forced recruitment. Unexploded land mines from decades of conflict present another danger.
Colombia has also been hit hard by a number of natural disasters, including earthquakes, as well as flooding, landslides and droughts made worse by climate change and the El Niño weather system. There is also the continuing threat of a possible eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano; the last time it erupted, in 1985, it proved to be the deadliest volcanic disaster in South America’s recorded history.
Indigenous communities in the south of Colombia have been particularly hard hit by an historic drought in the Amazon river basin region. Schools are closed and the pervasive lack of water and sanitation, coupled with inadequate access to medical care in these remote communities, is contributing to the spread of diseases such as malaria. The drier conditions have also raised the dangers of wildfires in the region. The low river levels have cut into fishing and the irrigation of crops, leading to increased food insecurity and rising malnutrition rates.
Venezuela migrant and refugee crisis raises need for more aid
Other challenges for Colombia stem from a massive influx of refugees from neighboring Venezuela. Since 2014, nearly 8 million people have fled Venezuela to escape political turmoil and economic collapse; of those, 2.8 million, including 800,000 children and adolescents, migrated to Colombia, taxing already strained health and education systems in border areas.
The chaotic inflow is also marked by family separations and the presence of unaccompanied minors who face heightened protection risks from armed groups known to forcibly recruit children or profit from trafficking. Monitoring and documentation are desperately needed for young migrants and refugees who face these and other challenges.
UNICEF works with the government and other partners to address the impacts of these and other issues on children and families.
How UNICEF is helping children in Colombia
UNICEF Columbia supports a range of programs in Colombia that deliver lifesaving assistance while also building longer-term, sustainable solutions. The strategy dove-tails with UN Sustainable Development Goals focused on eliminating poverty, addressing climate change and improving access to education.
UNICEF programs in Colombia include:
Support and protection for children on the move
Alongside local organizations, UNICEF works to protect child and adolescent migrants from Venezuela from risks of trafficking, gender-based violence and forced recruitment into armed groups.
UNICEF also supports community-based groups that provide essential health and nutrition services, as well as mental health and psychosocial support and educational programs for these children and young people.
Family tracing services provided by UNICEF and its partners is a vital method of reuniting separated children with adult guardians.
Related: How UNICEF assists migrant children and families making the dangerous journey through the Darién Gap, a stretch of jungle terrain that connects Colombia to Panama.
Health care
With vaccination rates on the decline in the country, UNICEF also supports the deployment of community health workers deep into poorer, rural areas such as La Guajira to deliver immunizations.
“My dream is to see the entire population vaccinated and immunized against all the diseases out there,” says Esperanza Palmar, a UNICEF-supported community health worker who serves indigenous villages in the north of the country. “I feel like I save lives.”
The work of vaccinators and community health workers like Esperanza “is important for UNICEF because it is what allows us to see what is happening in the territory, and to reach some of the hardest to reach children,” explains Tatiana Palacios, UNICEF Territorial Outreach.
Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)
UNICEF helps improve access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) by:
- distributing hygiene kits to prevent waterborne diseases and to support menstrual health
- installing solar-powered water plants in underserved villages to purify water and training locals to manage the facilities themselves
- constructing latrines and water points in homes and schools in rural areas to curb open defecation, which, when unchecked, contaminates water sources and spreads disease
Emergency relief efforts for indigenous families impacted by the Amazon drought include distributing safe water and other essential supplies, mobilizing health brigades and strengthening the resilience of community-based systems and services.
Children's education
Education is another key pillar of UNICEF's program work in Colombia, focused on reaching children in underserved rural communities, migrant settlements and other areas with large numbers of children out of school.
Programs supported by UNICEF provide literacy training for teachers and formal and non-formal schooling for tens of thousands of children.
“UNICEF, they’ve helped me a lot,” says Aime, a teenage refugee from Venezuela. “They’ve taught me about freedom of expression: That teenagers can be leaders, that we can think beyond our limitations, and that we can create a future for ourselves.”
Funding from UNICEF also supports government cash transfer programs for vulnerable families, helping them to cover the cost of household basics.
Learn more about what UNICEF is doing in Colombia to help children and families in need.
UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to help children get educated, stay healthy, protected and respected. Unrestricted donations give UNICEF the flexibility to direct resources to the most urgent needs.
