Colombia: progress towards peace is increasing, but children are still very exposed to abuse and violence

ROMA – Despite progress in implementing the Final Agreement to end the conflict and build a stable peace between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), and despite the resumption of dialogue with other armed groups that in many areas of the country keep the population at bay, a new report by United Nations Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) reports an increase in abuse against the little ones.

The data released. Analyzing the period between 1 July 2021 and 30 June 2023, it emerges that there were, in total, 615 violations against children: an increase of 61 percent compared to the previous period. Forced recruitment is still the most common crime, with 347 children co-opted into the networks of armed groups, followed by killings, mutilations and kidnappings, which affected 41 percent of indigenous and Afro-Colombian children. It is more likely that abuses are perpetrated against those who live in remote areas and in the countryside because people are more vulnerable: in these areas the difficulties in finding food, clean water, health care increase, access to health services is systematically denied humanitarian workers, discrimination is constant and continuous and all this happens because the armed groups fight among themselves for the control of the territory and for the control of illicit revenues linked to the production and trafficking of drugs, mining and other natural resources , underlines the UN report. The data also shows that sexual violence and attacks on schools and hospitals increased in the period covered by the report.

Building peace. The dossier highlights the need to implement more effective child protection measures, aiming above all to free minors, in particular indigenous people and Afro-Colombians, who have been kidnapped and recruited into armed groups. Abuse against children is mostly attributed to gangs and the FARC, but the Colombian Armed Forces are also responsible for 4 percent. The persistent effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have contributed to making things worse and making children more exposed to violence, having a direct impact on education because children have stopped attending lessons, and on poverty, because families have lost sources of income. With these assumptions it becomes easier for armed groups to recruit minors, sell them and sexually exploit them.

The numbers of abuse. In the period between July 2021 and June 2023, 615 violations against minors were confirmed. 347 of them were recruited into armed groups: 232 boys and 115 girls. A total of 133 children were mutilated or killed: 87 males, 42 females, while 4 were not identified. Thirty girls and three boys were victims of sexual violence. 44 minors kidnapped, including 32 boys and 12 girls. In the same period, 41 attacks on schools and hospitals were recorded while access to humanitarian workers in the most remote areas of the country was denied sixteen times.

The progress. Despite these numbers, the progress made in favor of children in recent years has been notable, especially with regards to the progress of the peace negotiations led by the government. In August 2022 the Ministry of Defense announced the suspension of air strikes against armed groups where children are suspected to be present, and in November 2022 it approved the Declaration on Safe Schools. Further national policies were then adopted to prevent violations against children in armed conflicts. 392 previously recruited minors were freed and entrusted to the care of specialized programs to promote their reintegration into the family, school and society.