JRS Colombia began its work in 1995, serving IDPs of the country’s civil war. Today, JRS Colombia continues to provide legal, psychosocial, and emergency assistance to forced migrants. JRS contributes to local integration efforts through livelihood and community participation programmes. With many new arrivals from Venezuela, JRS Colombia also provides humanitarian assistance and legal support to Venezuelans.

JRS Colombia works to improve overall wellbeing of refugees and other forcibly displaced people as a result of the Colombian civil war that began in 1964, displacing millions of people throughout the country. To this day, the conflict continues. With more than 8 million registered internally displaced people (IDPs), Colombia has the largest IDP population in the world. In the past year, the country has also seen an influx of migrants fleeing economic and social strife in Venezuela.  

The Peace Agreement signed in Colombia has yet to be a reality for most citizens affected by  more than 50 years of armed conflict. Despite advances in the agreement’s implementation, social leaders are now being targeted by armed actors as a means for social and territorial control. Colombia is also struggling to receive more than 1 million immigrants from Venezuela who are in transit to neighboring countries and settling in Colombia’s precarious conditions.