Colombia

Colombia became a pathfinding country in 2019.

1968

The Colombian Institute for Family Welfare is created to protect children's rights and wellbeing.

1979

Law 7 establishes the national norms for child protection and creates the National System for Family Welfare. ICBF is re-organized based on these principles.

1989

Act 2737 of the Children Code determines the fundamental rights of children and adolescents and the national norms of protection.

1991

Promulgation of the 1991 Political Constitution incorporates the principles of the Convention on Rights of the Child. By virtue of the constitutional corpus principles, rules and principles contained in treaties ratified by Colombia form an integral part of the national constitution.

2006

Law 1098 is passed, through which the Code of Childhood and Adolescence is issued. In combination with the laws passed in 1991, 1989 and 1979, these moments led to the establishment of the national framework (legal and otherwise) of child protection in Colombia.

2019

Colombia becomes a Pathfinding Country.

2021

Law 2081, which establishes the imprescriptibility of sexual crimes against minors, is approved and sanctioned. The status limitation is eliminated.

The 2019 Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) reported that 41 per cent of girls and 42 per cent of boys in Colombia had experienced some type of violence in childhood. The surveys were led by the Government of Colombia with support from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of the Together for Girls partnership.

In response, Colombia took a series of measures to prioritise ending violence against children, and became a Pathfinding country in August 2019 when President Ivan Duque launched the National Alliance to End Violence Against Children, a multi-sectoral platform linking various government agencies. The Colombian Institute for Family Welfare (ICBF) was appointed the focal point ministry to lead the development of an evidence-based and costed national action plan that would reduce violence children by 14.3 per cent by 2022.

Colombia became a Pathfinding country in 2019, when President Duque launched the National Alliance to End Violence Against Children. The National Alliance is composed of various government bodies, and the Presidential Council for Children and Adolescents and ICBF have been appointed the Focal Point entities to lead on the effort of developing a National Action Plan and to coordinate the Pathfinding project with the support of partners such as UN agencies, civil society organisations and academics.

The Colombian Government is leading the design of a National Action Plan to End Violence Against Children in consultation with children and multiple stakeholders.

The Colombia Ministry of Health and Social Protection led the implementation of the Colombia Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) in 2018, with support from the International Organization on Migration, the United States Agency for International Development and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as part of the Together for Girls partnership. Representatives from the National Statistics Institute (DANE), the Instituto Colombia de Bienestar Familiar (ICBF), the Ministries of Health, Education and Justice, and the National Planning Department formed a multi-stakeholder task force to oversee the VACS process. The full report about Colombia VACS was launched in 2019.
41% of girls experienced sexual, physical or emotional violence in childhood. Among girls who have experienced sexual violence, less than 6% of girls received help.
42% of boys experienced sexual, physical or emotional violence in childhood. Among boys who have experienced sexual violence, less than 0% of boys received help.
In general, boys look for and receive response services against all types of violence less than girls and have reported a lack of trust in the services.
54.4% of girls and 57.1% of boys have witnessed violence in the community.
More than 20% of girls left school due to experiencing physical or sexual violence.
In addition to a nationally representative sample, the Colombia VACS includes representative data from high violence conflict areas that will serve as a baseline for measuring progress on ongoing peacebuilding processes.

The Government of Colombia has been implementing 18 strategic initiatives in the National Alliance's framework to End Violence Against Children. The new National Action Plan will allow the scale-up of this strategic response to more than 150 initiatives.

The Government of Colombia is co-creating, with the support of End Violence Lab and partners, a National INSPIRE Coordination Course, which is addressed to the technical teams leading the regional action plans' design process.

Colombia expressed commitment to prohibiting corporal punishment of children in its National Development Plan 2018-2022 and, in August 2019, the National Alliance against Violence against Children was launched, including another commitment to prohibit all corporal punishment.