Despite the demobilization of the country’s largest guerrilla group, Colombia still has at least five internal armed conflicts, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
In a recent publication, the international humanitarian aid organization said that four of the armed conflicts were between the state and illegal armed groups and one was between rival guerrilla groups.
Colombia’s armed conflicts
Other ongoing violent conflicts, like between the AGC and the ELN, and the AGC and the Caparrapos, did not meet the aid organizations’ standards to be considered an armed conflict.
The Red Cross said that, based on international humanitarian law, it considered a violent conflict a “non-international armed conflict” (NIAC) if the conflict complies with two requisites.
What makes an internal armed conflict
The humanitarian organization stressed that the motives of non-state armed actors are irrelevant to determine whether there is an armed conflict or not.
Along the same lines, it is irrelevant whether a group is determined a “terrorist” or a “criminal” organization by the state or foreign governments.