Colombia’s Tougher Drug Crackdown Could Deepen Racism Against Afro-Colombians

The experts acknowledged Colombia’s serious security challenges, explaining that predominantly punitive and militarised responses have failed to restore peace and have disproportionately harmed Afro-Colombian communities.

Colombia's tougher approach to armed groups and drug trafficking risks deepening discrimination against people of African descent unless authorities build strong human rights protections into their security policies, UN experts have warned. For Afro-Colombian communities, the concerns reach into everyday life, from repeated police stops and fines that restrict employment opportunities to prolonged detention in facilities lacking necessities.

The UN's International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law Enforcement raised these concerns in a report following its visit to Bogotá, Quibdó, Cartagena and Cali from 4 to 14 May. Its findings come as the government that took office on 7 August 2026 puts a stronger security response at the centre of its agenda, including intensified eradication of illicit crops using aerial herbicides.

Drug Policies Must Protect Communities

The experts acknowledged Colombia's serious security challenges, explaining that predominantly punitive and militarised responses have failed to restore peace and have disproportionately harmed Afro-Colombian communities. Territories affected by armed violence, illicit economies and limited state presence face particular risks, making community participation essential to decisions that could reshape residents' safety, health and livelihoods.

The report cautioned against restarting aerial spraying without adequately assessing its effects on health, food security and the environment, especially for Afro-Colombian and other marginalised and racialised communities living in or near affected areas. Expert member Víctor Rodríguez called for security and drug policies grounded in human rights and public health, with an approach that recognises ethnic and racial inequalities and gives affected communities a meaningful voice.

"Measures adopted in response must not reproduce longstanding patterns of racial exclusion and criminalisation," Rodríguez said, stressing that the response to organised crime must remain firmly grounded in international human rights law.

Police Stops and Fines Fuel Exclusion

The mission concluded that systemic racism remains deeply rooted in Colombia's law enforcement and criminal justice institutions, with stereotypes linking people of African descent, particularly young people, to criminality and danger. Such assumptions influence police encounters, criminal and disciplinary sanctions, access to justice and opportunities to obtain an effective remedy for abuse.

Experts received extensive information about repeated, unjustified stops and searches, excessive and sometimes lethal force, and discriminatory police summons and fines known as comparendos, potentially linked to informal enforcement quotas. Unpaid fines can restrict access to employment for young Afro-Colombians and people facing economic hardship, reinforcing exclusion and criminalisation; the report recommended suspending comparendos and associated fines pending a comprehensive human rights review and cancelling outstanding fines.

Proposed "urban security defence units" prompted concern that expanded policing could worsen racial profiling, stigmatisation and violence without clear legal safeguards, independent oversight and accountability. Acting Chair Tracie Keesee stressed that effective policing depends on evidence and public trust, with strict protections against racial profiling and unnecessary or disproportionate force, rather than stereotypes or treating entire communities as threats.

Detention Conditions Demand Urgent Action

Temporary detention centres presented another troubling picture, with severe overcrowding, no natural light or ventilation, inadequate hygiene and healthcare, and shortages of food and basic supplies. Facilities intended to hold people for no more than 36 hours were keeping detainees for months or years, many of them people of African descent, exposing the gap between their intended purpose and daily reality.

Plans to intensify arrests could make these conditions worse, the experts warned, urging authorities against turning temporary facilities into long-term pretrial detention centres or prisons unless they fully meet international human rights standards. They welcomed Colombia's recognition of systemic racism and earlier work on dialogue during demonstrations, racial discrimination, historical memory and reparatory justice, calling for those gains to survive and strengthen through the government transition.

The Mechanism offered support to implement its recommendations and urged the new government to use them to address racial inequality and prevent security policies from deepening it. The report is scheduled for a public interactive dialogue at the Human Rights Council on 29 September.