The OECD accession review of labour market, social and migration policies in Colombia (OECD, 2016[1]) highlighted significant concerns regarding the prevalence of violence against trade unions and the levels of impunity for such incidents and criminal violations of workers’ rights. Five key recommendations were made by ELSAC, aimed at eradicating violence against trade unionists, ensuring their protection, decreasing impunity, and preventing the excessive use of force by the police against them (Box 5.1).
OECD Reviews of Labour Market and Social Policies: Colombia 2026
1. Draw up a zero vision for violence and homicides against trade unionists through an adequate plan of further reforms and actions in line with ratified ILO-conventions.
2. Further strengthen the protection programme for trade union members and leaders by:
Maintaining adequate financial resources for the National Protection Unit.
Implementing, in close collaboration with trade unions, the recently developed collective protection mechanism for at-risk trade unionists.
3. Demonstrate progress in reducing impunity rates for both violence and threats against trade unionists and crimes against the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining by:
Ensuring that investigations of crimes against trade unionists are a priority for the government and maintaining the Elite Group responsible for the investigation of crimes against trade unionists in the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Demonstrating tangible progress in the resolution of all crimes against trade unionists, securing convictions where appropriate.
Ensuring the timely resolution of cases of violence and threats against unionists, including by hiring a third labour judge.
Publically releasing on a yearly basis statistics on the investigation and prosecution of crimes, as well as the case timelines.
4. Evaluate the effectiveness of the mandatory conciliation phase as required by the criminal proceedings for Article 200 of the Criminal Code.
5. Critically and independently examine the role of the Mobile Anti-Disturbances Squadron (Escuadrón Móvil Antidisturbios, ESMAD) and their use of excessive force. In co‑operation with the social partners, taking measures to address the pending recommendations on serious and urgent cases at the ILO Committee of Freedom of Association regarding violence against trade unions.
Source: OECD (2018[2]), Accession of Colombia to the OECD: Formal Opinion of the Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee (ELSAC), unpublished document.
In 2025, the Prosecutor General’s Office (Fiscalía) registered 12 homicides of trade unionists, an increase from 9 victims in 2024 and 2023, though still considerably below the 32 victims reported in 2018 (Figure 5.1). Additionally, the National Working Group for Threats (GTNA, Grupo de Trabajo Nacional para Amenazas) – a specialised unit in the Prosecutor General’s Office created in 2018 to investigate and prosecute threats against human rights defenders, social leaders and union leaders – registered 52 victims of threats among trade union leaders (Table 5.1), a decrease from 2024 when 76 threats were reported.1
Number of trade union homicides, 2017-2025
Source: Data provided by the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Threats to trade union leaders reported to the Prosecutor General’s Office by type, 2025
Source: Data provided by the Prosecutor General’s Office.
The increase in the number of trade union homicides reflects a broader deterioration in Colombia’s security context, driven not only by tensions surrounding the 2026 presidential elections but more fundamentally by escalating confrontations between state security forces and armed groups and intensifying intra‑group violence among criminal actors (International Committee of the Red Cross, 2025[3]). Regions such as Cauca, Antioquia and North Santander are particularly affected, as are trade unions active in the education, health, mining and agro‑industry (ILO, 2026[4]).
The Inter‑American Commission on Human Rights emphasises that implementation of the 2016 Peace Agreement remains slow and incomplete, hindered by political polarisation, weak territorial state presence, and delays in fulfilling key commitments (IACHR, 2025[5]). Despite some progress in areas such as comprehensive rural reform and transitional justice, the fragility of the peace process has persisted. Structural weaknesses have allowed multiple armed actors – including dissidents of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), the ELN (National Liberation Army), paramilitary successors, and criminal organisations – to re‑establish themselves in areas once influenced by the FARC. This fragmentation has fuelled competition over land and illicit economies – such as record‑high cocaine production, trafficking routes, and illegal mining – particularly in rural regions where the state remains largely absent and governance vacuums persist. Negotiations with armed groups have stalled amid renewed confrontations and persistent incentives linked to the profitability of illicit economies (Human Rights Watch, 2025[6]).
To offer people under threat (including trade union leaders and members) appropriate protection, Colombia has a national protection system in place, managed by the National Protection Unit (Unidad Nacional de Protección, UNP). In recent years there has been a considerable increase in the budget devoted to the protection of trade unionists, from COP 33.9 billion (EUR 7.9 million) in 2021 to COP 54.7 billion (EUR 12.8 million) in 2025 (Figure 5.2). The increase is to some extent related to years of high inflation but also a response to the increase in violence. Even so, the number of trade unionists receiving protection has been gradually declining, from 299 in 2018 to 235 in 2025 (Figure 5.2). Trade union federations complain that the security risks have not necessarily declined, while the National Protection Unit notes that other people, in particular indigenous populations and human right defenders in rural areas, face higher risks.
Since 2017, the Colombian Government also has a collective protection programme. Decree 2078 of 2017 established a formal collective protection scheme within the National Prevention and Protection Programme to safeguard groups and communities – such as trade unions – facing extraordinary or extreme risk. The mechanism operates through the CERREM Colectivo, a specialised committee tasked with evaluating collective risks and recommending tailored protection measures, while the Ministry of the Interior and the UNP co‑ordinate their implementation and monitor their effectiveness. The programme provides a structured framework for assessing threats and delivering collective security responses in contexts where entire groups, rather than individuals, are targeted due to their social, labour, or political activities.
Currently, three trade union organisations benefit from such collective protection measures, including Sintrainagro (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Industria Agropecuaria), Fecode (Federación Colombiana de Trabajadores de la Educación), and USO (Unión Sindical Obrera de la Industria del Petróleo). These three unions are among the most historically targeted by anti‑union violence, one of the key criterion used by the UNP and the CERREM Colectivo for granting collective protection under Decree 2078 de 2017. Collective protection measures mainly include hard measures, like vehicles and bodyguards (Table 5.2), and are assigned for a period of 12 months, with possibility of renewal (Sintrainagro has been receiving such collective protection measures since 2021). Such hard protection measures are also frequently used for individual protection schemes, in addition to soft measures, like bulletproof vests or mobile phones that trade unionists can use to alert the UNP in case of immediate danger (Table 5.2).
Source: Data provided by the National Protection Unit.
Type of protection measures for trade unionists by scheme, 2025
Source: Data provided by the National Protection Unit (UNP).
Between 1 January 2017 and 30 November 2025, the Prosecutor General’s Office received reports for a total of 142 homicide cases against trade unionists. Of these, 138 cases are being investigated in the ordinary jurisdiction, 3 cases are being investigated by the Special Indigenous Jurisdiction, and 1 case by the Military Criminal Justice system. The regions most affected by trade union homicides continue to be the departments of Cauca (37 cases) and Valle del Cauca (22 cases).
Progress has been made in 74 cases (54%) of the homicides investigated in the ordinary jurisdiction, though only 25 cases (18%) have a sentence (Table 5.3). Other cases have acquittals (5 cases), are currently on trial (25 cases), have a formal accusation (5 cases), are under investigation with arrest warrant issued by a judge (7 cases), or are dismissed (7 cases, of which 6 due to the death of the suspect). As requested by ELSAC’s post-accession progress reporting (see Box 5.1), statistics on the investigation and prosecution of crimes against trade unionists are published on a yearly basis through Colombia’s own accession reporting – see, for instance, Ministry of Labour (2025[7]) – and information on the budget is available on the website of the Prosecutor General’s Office.2
For events prior to 2011, among the relevant decisions for the year 2025, a conviction was issued against one of the leaders of the now‑defunct Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC) for serious crimes committed between 2000 and 2005 in several regions of the country, where some of the victims were union members. The crime sought to intimidate unionists and create fear within their sector. The investigation revealed that the perpetrators were members of a paramilitary group.
Homicide cases of trade unionists investigated in ordinary jurisdiction, 2017-2025
Source: Data provided by the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Over the years, the strategy of the Prosecutor General’s Office for the prosecution of violence against trade unionists has evolved from a prioritised yet relatively fragmented approach at the beginning of Colombia’s post-accession process to a more integrated, data-driven and specialised system, with distinct tracks for homicides and threats, stronger institutional co‑ordination, and measurable improvements in prosecutorial effectiveness.
Already in 2021 – when the first post-accession reporting on Colombia for ELSAC started with a report by the Ministry of Labour (2021[8]) – the Prosecutor General’s Office applied a dual-track approach: i) a dedicated strategy for homicides of trade unionists, and ii) mechanisms to address other crimes, including violations of freedom of association and threats. This approach was supported by strategic prioritisation of crimes against unionists, a specialised Elite Group and designated prosecutors, case‑specific approaches, and internal co‑ordination across prosecutorial units. At that stage, the homicide strategy was achieving about 50‑55% clarification of trade union cases (see Table 5.3 for the period 2017-2020), which was considerably higher than for general homicide cases, with an advance rate of about 30% (OECD, 2022[9]).
More recently, there has been a clear evolution toward a more integrated and specialised system. Institutional co‑ordination across multiple units of the Prosecutor General’s Office (Territorial Security, Human Rights Directorate, Special Investigation Unit) allows for a differentiated handling of cases depending on victim profile and context. In addition, a centralised monitoring approach has been introduced, including systematic follow-up of all homicide cases, victim profiling protocols (since 2022), and integrated databases to track motives, perpetrators and case status. Stronger inter-institutional co‑operation with the Ministry of Labour and trade unions has improved identification of victims’ union status and links between cases. In the course of 2025, the Prosecutor General’s Office has also implemented a prioritisation plan consisting of concentrating intentional homicide cases at the inquiry stage in remote or hard-to‑access territories. The increase in the homicide case progress rate to 57‑59% for the period 2022-2024 (Table 5.3) indicates more effective investigations and prosecutions. Even so, the identification of the intellectual authors of the crimes remains difficult.
Similar progress can be observed for the strategy for threats, with a clear shift from reactive handling to a more preventive and rapid-response model. Since 2018, threats against human rights defenders (including trade union leaders and trade union members) are recognised as a specific crime in the Criminal Code. The same year, the National Working Group for the Support, Promotion and Co‑ordination of the Analysis, Investigation and Prosecution of Cases of Threats against Human Rights Defenders (GTNA) was created. Over the years, guidelines for the investigation and prosecution of crimes were developed and prosecutors, investigators and analysts were trained. Today, the GTNA operates 24/7, with 10 dedicated investigative teams composed of prosecutors, investigators and analysts, and in close co‑ordination with regional offices and the National Protection Unit to ensure rapid response and the provision of protective measures if necessary. In 2023, the GTNA obtained a conviction for the crime of threats against human rights defenders and public servants, against a person who threatened seven trade unionists attached to SINTRAINAL.
Article 200 of the Colombian Criminal Code recognises the violation of the right to assembly and association as a criminal offense. This offense was created to protect the right to freedom of association within the framework of labour relations, especially regarding unionised workers. Conducts that are punishable under this offense include: preventing or disrupting a lawful assembly, preventing or impairing the exercise of rights granted by labour laws, and taking reprisals in response to a legitimate strike, assembly or association. The notification of a crime linked to the violation of the right to assembly and association must be filed by the worker (unionised or not) or by the trade union, within six months from the date of the incident.
Between 1 January 2017 and 30 November 2025, the Prosecutor General’s Office received 1 722 cases for the crimes of violation of the rights of assembly and association. Of these, 294 cases (17.1%) are active and 1 428 cases (82.9%) have a closure decision, as follows: 1 003 cases have been archived, because there was no criminal conduct (47%) or the plaintiff did not have legitimacy (23%); 130 cases have been withdrawn by the complainant; another 130 cases have been conciliated; 158 cases have been closed due to termination of the criminal action, preclusion, extinction of the complaint, among others; and in 7 cases, acquittal judgments were issued (Table 5.4). The acquittals were appealed by the Prosecutor General’s Office but the judge’s superior decided to uphold the acquittals. These cases occurred in Bogotá, Cauca, Tolima, and Valle del Cauca against unions in the energy, food, and public sectors.
The progress rate of Art. 200 cases is about the same as reported in the previous post-accession review: 82.2% at the end of 2023 (OECD, 2024[10]). At the same time, the share of cases that are archived because there was no criminal conduct or because the plaintiff did not have legitimacy has decreased in recent years, showing that victims and trade unions have become better informed about the judicial process and its requirements.
Cases of violations of rights of assembly and association over the period 2017-2025
Source: Data provided by the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Despite the high number of cases, not a single conviction has been issued for violations of rights of assembly and association. The lack of convictions is largely the result of the mandatory conciliation step that is part of the judicial process. If the affected parties reach an agreement in the conciliation phase, the case is archived and the conciliation act has the effect of res judicata. The Attorney General’s Office continues to promote conciliation as it is an effective mechanism for guaranteeing individuals’ right of access to justice in criminal matters and for resolving legal disputes swiftly and without delay. It is also seen as a way to decentralise access to justice since conciliation can take place in a victim assistance centre before a prosecutor, in a private or public conciliation centre before equity conciliators, or before public officials authorised by law for this purpose.
Trade union confederations reported to the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (ILO, 2026[4]) that Art. 200 “does not comply with international standards for the protection of freedom of association due to its legal ambiguity, the difficulty of providing evidence and the lack of institutional will to prosecute these crimes, which have made it a symbolic provision with no real dissuasive or reparative capacity”. The Committee of Experts therefore requested from the Colombian Government “an exhaustive assessment of the criminal offence set out in Art. 200 of the Criminal Code and its enforcement, with a view to examining the legislative or institutional adjustments that would ensure its effectiveness”. This request matches the recommendation made by ELSAC in its Formal Opinion, where it asked Colombia to “evaluate the effectiveness of the mandatory conciliation phase as required by the criminal proceedings for Article 200 of the Criminal Code” (see Box 5.1).
Previous OECD accession and post-accession reviews of Colombia expressed concerns about the excessive use of force against trade union leaders and members by the Colombian Mobile Anti-Disturbances Squadron (Escuadrón Móvil Antidisturbios, ESMAD), a unit within the Colombian National Police in charge of securing demonstrations and controlling riots, including strikes. The unit has since undergone a major transformation and its name was changed into the Unit of Dialogue and Maintenance of Order (UNDMO) – see the OECD’s second post-accession review of Colombia (OECD, 2024[10]) for a discussion.
In line with ELSAC’s recommendation to critically and independently examine the unit’s role and its use of excessive force (see Box 5.1), the Ministry of Defense and the National Police held a series of working sessions between August 2023 and January 2024 together with the Colombian Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and several civil society organisations that are part of the Roundtable for Police Reform. The discussions resulted in the publication of Decree 1 231 of 2024, which establishes a comprehensive legal framework that regulates the differentiated and proportional use of force by the National Police. The decree prioritises dialogue, prevention and de‑escalation, requiring force to be used only as a last resort and in proportion to the situation. It also introduces clearer rules on the use of lethal and less-lethal weapons, reporting obligations, and accountability mechanisms, with the overall purpose of reducing excessive force and strengthening public trust in policing. The National Police was given 18 months to update and modify its internal administrative actions.
As part of the implementation of the Decree, about 7 000 police officers received trainings in 2024 on issues related to human rights, the right to assembly, public and peaceful protest, dialogue and the use of force (Ministry of Labour, 2025[7]). The National Policy also created a Dialogue Team within the Unit of Dialogue and Maintenance of Order (UNDMO) to promote dialogue and positive conflict management during demonstrations, which counted 146 officers in 2024 (Ministry of Labour, 2024[11]).
Colombia has made solid progress in the investigation and prosecution of violence against trade unionists, with an increasingly institutionalised approach of the Prosecutor General’s Office that combines systematic prioritisation, specialised units and inter-institutional co‑ordination, and with measurable improvements in prosecutorial effectiveness as a result. Resources for the protection programme for trade union leaders and members have been maintained throughout the post-accession period, and the collective protection mechanism has been expanded. The excessive use of force during demonstrations and strikes has also been addressed through a reorganisation of the Colombian Mobile Anti-Disturbances Squadron (ESMAD) – now called Unit of Dialogue and Maintenance of Order (UNDMO) – and a series of measures to promote dialogue and positive conflict management during demonstrations.
Nevertheless, the persistent murders and other acts of violence against trade unionists in Colombia remain a major challenge. Colombia is encouraged to explore ways to identify the intellectual authors of homicides and evaluate the effectiveness of the mandatory conciliation phase as required by the criminal proceedings for violations of rights of assembly and association.
References
[6] Human Rights Watch (2025), World Report 2025: Colombia, https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2025/country-chapters/colombia.
[5] IACHR (2025), Los impactos de la violencia sobre la situación de los derechos humanos en Colombia, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, https://www.oas.org/es/cidh/informes/pdfs/2025/informe_colombia_iv.pdf.
[4] ILO (2026), Application of International Labour Standards 2026: Report of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, https://www.ilo.org/resource/conference-paper/ilc/ilc114/application-international-labour-standards-2026.
[3] International Committee of the Red Cross (2025), Humanitarian Situation Update: Colombia, 2025, https://www.icrc.org/sites/default/files/2025-07/2025%20set%20to%20be%20the%20decade%E2%80%99s%20worst%20year%20in%20humanitarian%20terms.pdf.
[7] Ministry of Labour (2025), Colombia’s 5th post-accession report to the OECD Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee, https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/about/legal/post-accession-report/Colombia%20OECD%20Fifth%20Post-accession%20Report%20ELSAC%202025.pdf.
[11] Ministry of Labour (2024), Colombia’s 4th post-accession report to the OECD Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee, https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/about/legal/post-accession-report/Colombia%20OECD%20Fourth%20Post-accession%20Report%20ELSAC%202024.pdf.
[8] Ministry of Labour (2021), Colombia’s First Post-Accession Report to the Employment Labour and Social Affairs Committee of the OECD, https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/about/legal/post-accession-report/first-post-accession-report-colombia-elsac-oecd-2021.pdf.
[10] OECD (2024), OECD Reviews of Labour Market and Social Policies: Colombia 2024, OECD Reviews of Labour Market and Social Policies, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/6ed40726-en.
[9] OECD (2022), OECD Reviews of Labour Market and Social Policies: Colombia 2022, OECD Reviews of Labour Market and Social Policies, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/efa41fd3-en.
[2] OECD (2018), Accession of Colombia to the OECD: Formal Opinion of the Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee, Unpublished report.
[1] OECD (2016), OECD Reviews of Labour Market and Social Policies: Colombia 2016, OECD Reviews of Labour Market and Social Policies, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264244825-en.
← 1. The National Trade Union School (ENS, Escuela Nacional Sindical) – a source often cited in previous OECD reports on Colombia – no longer collects data on violence against trade unionists.