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Country

Colombia

Scores
69.7/100
Overall
44.6/100
Governance and accountability
83.3/100
Prevention
75.0/100
Healing
74.5/100
Justice

Americas & the Caribbean

2nd

Overall

6th

Governance and accountability

1st

Prevention

2nd

Healing

2nd

Justice

Shared rank — one or more countries have the same score.

Pathfinding Global Alliance

4th

Overall

17th

Governance and accountability

1st

Prevention

6th

Healing

3rd

Justice

Shared rank — one or more countries have the same score.

Ending Violence Against Children pledging process

5th

Overall

19th

Governance and accountability

1st

Prevention

6th

Healing

4th

Justice

Shared rank — one or more countries have the same score.

Background indicators
GDP per capita
7913.99
Level of poverty
33.0
Gini coefficient
53.9
Rule of Law Index
0.48
Gender Inequality Index (GII)
0.39
Women in parliament
29.4
Gender gap in educational attainment
1.0
LGBTQ Equality Index
75.0
Birth registration
97.0
Internet penetration rate
77.34
Lead child protection ministries or agencies
3.0
Child marriage
23.0
Sexual violence
8.0
Online child sexual abuse
18.2
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Colombia ranked 8th globally and 2nd in the Americas and the Caribbean region.

2nd
within America & the Caribbean
out of 11 countries
1st
in its upper middle income classification
out of 19 countries
13.1
million children in Colombia
represents 9.1% of the region's total population under the age of 18

Colombia has made important progress and is well-placed to continue to strengthen its response. 

With sustained investment and action, it can continue to be a global leader in protecting children and adolescents from sexual violence.

Colombia outranks all other countries in the theme of prevention by 3 points.

Progress through data, policy, and investment

Colombia has demonstrated a strong commitment to ending sexual violence against children and adolescents. The country conducted a Violence Against Children and Youth Survey in 2018, used the data to identify key priority issues, and established a National Action Plan to respond. 

See the data from Colombia's Violence Against Children and Youth Survey

Colombia subsequently became a Pathfinding country (2019), improved child safety laws, banned child marriage (2024), criminalized corporal punishment in all settings (2021), and eliminated statutes of limitations for childhood sexual violence (2021), establishing Colombia as a regional and global leader in the movement to end violence against children and adolescents. 

In November 2024, Colombia hosted the first Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children, bringing together Ministers of Health from 130 nations to make 120 novel commitments to protect and support children. This event was co-hosted together with the Government of Sweden, UNICEF, WHO and the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children. It was the first time a high-level ministerial of this size convened delegates from around the globe, marking a new GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title: Most countries represented at a childhood violence summit.

Just 2 countries Colombia and Kazakhstan require children’s medical providers to receive training on sexual violence against children Index indicator 2.4

What remains: Closing the gaps in protection

Leadership comes with responsibility. Closing these gaps will require action like:

  • Setting the legal age of sexual consent at 18 with a close in age exemption
  • Criminalizing the sexual exploitation of children
  • Ensuring laws criminalizing child sexual abuse by family members and people in positions of authority extend to a broad range of relationships/positions and settings
  • Strengthening statutes of limitation reform by closing remaining gaps—particularly by eliminating limitation periods for all related crimes such as child trafficking, and ensuring that Concordat agreements do not create barriers to accountability for clergy or restrict access to evidence—so that all perpetrators can be prosecuted equally under the law, in line with global best practice and as outlined in the Brave Movement Report Criminal Statues of Limitation in Latin America 2024. 
  • Put in place full extraterritoriality and extradition provisions for cross-border prosecution of sexual exploitation of children crimes
  • Explicitly criminalizing sexual exploitation of children
  • Clearly criminalizing all elements of trafficking of children for sexual exploitation
  • Establishing a national survivors’ council
  • Developing a national action plan to end sexual violence against children on and offline
  • Increasing parent support services

While the Index tracks whether laws and policies are in place, it does not capture the quality or reach of their implementation.

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Data driving change

Third Richest Nation

www.bravemovement.org/campaigns/third-richest-nation

A world without childhood violence would be $7 trillion richer. This nation isn’t real. Its wealth could be. Brave Movement's survivor-led advocacy campaign at the G20 in 2025 pressured decision makers to invest in prevention, healing and justice to create stronger, happier nations.

#BeBrave G7 Scorecard 2025

www.bravemovement.org/g7

By evaluating each G7 nation’s progress on vital policy measures we're drawing global attention to the global, silent pandemic of sexual violence against children. This is a crisis that undermines the G7's commitment to building secure, prosperous, and equitable societies. Kids need bold leadership and decisive action now to be safe and thrive.

Break the record

www.togetherforgirls.org/en/press/a-record-breaking-event-now-governments-must-deliver

We broke the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ for the most countries represented at a childhood violence summit! With 120 governments attending, this first ever Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children was the largest organized event to address this issue on a global scale. Most importantly, as a result, we also broke the world’s record of inaction against childhood sexual violence.