Last updated: 12 June 2025

Introduction

Civil society organizations (CSOs) have played a vital role in public policy, development, and peacebuilding throughout Colombia’s history. In the past decades, CSOs have evolved in the context of, and directly in response to, the armed conflict that has defined Colombia’s political, social, and economic landscape. As a result, Colombia has robust, sophisticated, and capable CSOs, including human rights organizations, peacebuilding entities, community strengthening initiatives, women’s rights groups, and academic and research centers. Most CSOs are part of alliances or networks.

The 1991 Constitution protects freedom of assembly and actively promotes CSOs. In addition, under the Colombian Constitution, international treaties and agreements that recognize human rights ratified by Congress have the status of Constitutional enactments and thus take precedence in the domestic legal order. Colombia has ratified almost all human rights treaties. The Colombian Constitutional Court has played a very important role in the protection of rights, including the rights of access to public information, association, and assembly.

However, Colombia has a complicated and often contradictory web of laws, regulations, and policies that make it difficult to navigate the legal framework for CSOs. This landscape has been impacted by a series of legal amendments on the exercise of the right to peaceful assembly that generate uncertainty as to the applicable law and invite a restrictive interpretation of this right. In 2016, Congress approved a reform to the Police Code that had been in force in the country since the 1970s. This amendment provided powers to local authorities regarding the use of public space and the exercise of the right to public demonstration. Human rights activists challenged this new regulation before the Constitutional Court, arguing that it did not comply with the procedure set out in the Constitution to regulate fundamental rights and that it expressly contravened international human rights standards on the right to peaceful assembly. The Constitutional Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in April 2017. However, to prevent this decision from producing a regulatory vacuum, the court deferred the effectiveness of its ruling for two years so that Congress would have sufficient time to discuss and approve a new regulation on policing assemblies that would be in accordance with the Constitution. As of 2022, Congress has not passed a law to replace the norms that were declared unconstitutional. This situation has created uncertainty as to what standards should be applied by local authorities.

In addition, despite recent peace accords, the national landscape continues to be marked by threats, gender-based violence, and lethal attacks against human rights defenders and social leaders, which is having a significant impact on civil society. In Colombia, being a human rights defender is still a high-risk occupation. According to the UN, a wide range of activists have been targeted, including community leaders, Afro-Colombians, indigenous people, environmentalists, journalists, and women’s rights defenders. Therefore, when in June 2022 Gustavo Petro was elected as president of Colombia for the 2022-2026 term, he immediately faced significant social, political, and security challenges, including the resurgence of violence in several areas of the country, the worsening of poverty and inequality brought by the COVID-19 crisis, political polarization, and high levels of corruption.

In light of these developments, on December 6, 2023, the Colombian Constitutional Court also issued Decision SU-546/23, which declared an “estado de cosas inconstitucional” (ECI, or “state of unconstitutional order”) due to the persistent, grave, and widespread violations of the fundamental rights of human rights defenders and social leaders. This ruling was pivotal in Colombia’s ongoing struggle to protect human rights defenders amid persistent violence and impunity. The decision mandated a framework for long-term institutional reforms aimed at safeguarding the lives and rights of human rights defenders across the country. In addition, on December 13, 2023, President Gustavo Petro issued Presidential Directive No. 07, which underscored the Colombian government’s commitment to supporting and recognizing the work of human rights defenders. This directive was addressed to high-ranking officials, including the Vice President, ministers, military commanders, and heads of national agencies and emphasized the importance of their role in protecting and promoting human rights.