Facts and Figures

IOM Member since 1956 Capital: Bogotá D.C. Population (2011): 46.9 million Area: 1.14 million sq km Major Languages: Spanish Currency: Colombian Peso (COP) GDP per Capita PPP (2010): USD 9,462 HDI Rank (2011): 87 of 187 Remittances (2011 estimate): USD 4,265 million Net Migration Rate (2010-2015): -0.5 migrants / 1,000 population Immigrants (2010): 0.2% Women as a Percentage of Immigrants (2010): 47.9% Population under 15 (2011): 28.4% Adult HIV Prevalence (2009): 0.5%

Additional Resources Perfil Migratorio de Colombia 2010 International Migration Law Database National Instruments: Colombia Sources and Definitions

Additional Maps

Latest News

• IOM Colombia Hosts Fourth International Conference on Gender and Disasters
• IOM Launches Study of Vulnerable Afro-Colombian Communities
• IOM and Local Partner Train Colombian Judges on Land Restitution
• IOM Director General Visits Colombia
• First Collective Reparation Programme in Colombia Presented to the National Government

Overview

Colombia has embarked on an ambitious and historic process to compensate the victims of armed conflict and to overcome extreme poverty.

The government of President Juan Manuel Santos, which was established in October 2010, has achieved wide acceptance and popularity in a short period of time. International relations with neighboring countries are cordial and tend toward cooperation, and economic growth is remarkable and steady.

In June 2011, Santos signed the most important of his government initiatives: the Victims and Land Restitution Law. This initiative aims to compensate the 4 million victims left by the conflict in Colombia – most of them victims of forced displacement during the past 20 years – and return the land of 350,000 families who have lost their lands because of illegal armed groups.

This Act complements, strengthens and redirects the process of transitional justice in Colombia that began in 2005 when the Justice Peace Law was issued.

After six years of implementation of the transitional justice process, more than 362,000 victims have reported to the Attorney General’s Office crimes committed against them by illegal armed groups. Some of these crimes include: forced disappearance, terrorism, sexual violence and kidnapping. Between 2009 and 2011, 27,000 families received compensation worth more than USD 276 million. In 2012, the Colombian Government plans to pay another USD 274 million.

So far, 55,000 former combatants affiliated with illegal armed groups have joined the peace process. Some 4,000 of them are accused of committing crimes against humanity and are undergoing judicial proceedings. Another 32,000 of them are in the process of reintegrating into civilian life.

They have also provided information on more than 3,500 mass graves where authorities have found more than 4,300 bodies; 1,500 of them have been fully identified and 1,300 handed over to their respective families.

Since 2001, more than four million people have benefited from the programmes that have been developed by IOM. The core programmes of the Organization are targeted at victims of violence; ex-combatants in process of reintegration, including children and young persons; victims of natural catastrophes; victims of human trafficking; and the mobile population.

Movement, Emergency and Post-Crisis Migration Management

Community-Oriented Reintegration of Ex-combatants Programme (DDR)

Since 2006, IOM has undertaken the Community Oriented Reintegration Programme that has supported the Colombian government’s implementation of a reintegration process for more than 50,000 former combatants. This programme has also provided support to government institutions in implementing the Justice and Peace Law and the recent Victims and Land Restitution Law.

The Programme supports the Colombian government in three specific areas: 1) support to the process of reintegration of ex-combatants, 2) support to peace initiatives and 3) support for the implementation of the transitional justice process.

Specifically, IOM works together with the Colombian Agency for Reintegration, the Department for Social Prosperity, the Specialized Victims Assistance and Reparation Unit, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Justice and Rights, the Attorney General’s Office, the National Ombudsman's Office and the Public Prosecutor´s Office.

To date, 157,610 persons have benefited from this Programme: 19,429 demobilized persons, 63,000 victims of violence and 67 entire communities. The Programme has been mainly financed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and has also received contributions from the governments of Canada, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands, and organizations such as Foundation Open Society Institute (FOSI), United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

Programme to Support Child Ex-Combatants and Children and Youth at Risk of Recruitment by Illegal Armed Groups

In November 1999, the Colombian Family Welfare Institute (ICBF by its acronym in Spanish) created a specialized programme to support disengaged children and youth from illegal armed groups. Since March 2001, IOM and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) established a cooperation agreement with the ICBF, in order to strengthen the capacity of the government and the Colombian society to guarantee and restore the rights of this vulnerable population.

The Programme has two strategic components: assistance and prevention.

Assistance to underage children and youth disengaged from illegal armed groups aims to improve State and civil capacity to restore the rights of children, adolescents and youth victimized by different forms of violence. Since 1999, 4,811 children, teenagers and young people disengaged from illegal armed groups were assisted.

Prevention aims to support the guarantee of rights for vulnerable children and youth in order to reduce the risk of forced migration and recruitment by illegal armed groups or other forms of violence. Since 2001, IOM has carried out prevention activities directed at 244,375 children, teenagers and young people at risk of recruitment.

Support to the Displaced and Vulnerable Population

Since 2000, IOM has provided comprehensive assistance to persons and families that were forced to abandon their homes and to the communities that have welcomed the displaced people despite their own vulnerable situations.

The Support to the Displaced and Vulnerable Population Programme aims at providing a better quality of life to this population and encourages the national and local governments to protect and guarantee their basic services and rights.

In 2011, the Programme benefited 64,299 persons with health, education, income generation, housing and institutional strengthening initiatives. Fifty-three per cent of them were internally displaced people, 46 per cent were from the vulnerable population and 1 per cent was public officials.

All the initiatives in the framework of the programmed include a gender and ethnic perspective.

Gender and Health

The section dealing with Gender and Health coordinates its work with the different programmes and projects implemented by the IOM. Its principal objective is to design and develop the Health and Migration Strategy with an age, gender, ethnic and disability perspective with the aim of promoting the exercise of the Right to Health for migrants within the framework of International Humanitarian Law.

Private Sector Liaison and Corporate Social Responsibility Unit

The Private Sector and Corporate Social Responsibility Unit of IOM Colombia aims to promote and facilitate the participation of the private sector in social projects and development strategies. Through this Unit entrepreneurs can find a way to develop their Corporate Social Responsibility programmes with the joint efforts of the international cooperation and the local and national governments.

More than 100 national and international private sector businesses have offered direct support to IOM projects through operational resources and in-kind resources, as well as donations of cash, totaling USD 22.3 million. Also, some of the private sector allies have joined the projects as employers, implementation partners or instructors for income generation projects.

More than 4,000 families have benefited from IOM projects with resources coming from the private sector.

Also, the Private Sector and CSR Unit seeks to promote sustainable businesses and productive projects from a social, economic and environmental perspective.

Since 2007 the beneficiaries of 116 income generation projects have sold more than USD 250,000.

Regulating Migration

Counter-trafficking

IOM implements the Integrated Programme for the Counter-Trafficking of People that is aimed at dealing with and countering the phenomenon, through strategies of assistance, prevention, and support for drafting public policies, international cooperation and information.

Currently IOM, in coordination with the Ministry of the Interior and Justice (www.mij.gov.co) is developing the campaign whose slogan is "Against dealing in human trafficking there is no deal.” (Contra La Trata de Personas No Hay Trato in Spanish).

Since 2001 IOM has assisted more than 200 victims of human trafficking.

Facilitating Migration

Migration Management Services. IOM supports the Colombian Government in the formulation and execution of programmes aimed at strengthening and promoting regulated, orderly and dignified migration processes that benefit both the migrants as well as the countries of origin, transit and destiny.

With this in mind IOM has offered technical cooperation for drafting a public integrated migration policy and is implementing initiatives for preventing irregular migration; facilitated migration; assistance for returning home; labour migration; and migration for development. In the same way IOM is creating spaces to analyze the migratory dynamics with the aim of examining the flows of development migration and to characterize Colombians overseas.

A return and reintegration programme implemented with Bogota Mayor's Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, called "Welcome Home" was implemented in 2009 as an initiative to guide and support Colombian Migrant returnees. As a result, a total of 1,677 returnees were assisted through the project.

Migration, Climate Change and Environmental Degradation

Temporary and Circular Migration Scheme for Environmentally-vulnerable Populations

Many areas of Colombia are subject to severe environmental risks mostly as a result of human activity but are also aggravated by the climate change–related alteration of rainfall patterns. Colombia's environmental problems are exacerbated by a high poverty rate as well as a range of conflict and crime-related challenges. A combination of these factors contributes to the high proportion of internal and international migration.

Recognizing the potential of migration for development and adaptation, Colombia began putting into practice innovative models of temporary and circular labour migration between Colombia and Spain.

The Colombian Temporary and Circular Labour Migration (TCLM) programme offers a livelihood alternative through temporary work abroad to families confronted with natural disasters enabling affected zones to recuperate. The programme also supports migrants and their families in maximizing the impact of remittances on the recovery of the affected area through public and private co-funding and international cooperation and takes into account the needs of the most marginalized populations among the rural communities. For instance, in 2007, 162 women received training in leadership and local development to bolster their capacity as potential agents of development.

TCLM can serve as a concrete illustration of how migration can be used as an adaptation strategy for vulnerable populations and contribute to sustainable development as it enables local populations to increase their resilience to environmental challenges and offers them an alternative to permanent migration, whether to urban slums or abroad.

Last updated:
Main text: March 2012
Facts and figures: March 2012