Colombia: Armed Groups Expand Child Recruitment

- Child recruitment by armed groups has risen sharply in Colombia in recent years; exploiting poverty, social exclusion, and lack of education to lure children with promises of money, power, and prestige, and increasingly using social media to do so. - Colombia has established a range of policies and strategies to prevent child recruitment, and protect and rescue children, but some of these are inadequate and their implementation often falls short. - The new administration of President Abelardo de la Espriella should adopt a comprehensive security and justice policy to end these grave human rights violations and ensure that agencies charged with protecting children have the resources and capacity to address this scourge. (Washington, DC) – Child recruitment by armed groups has increased in Colombia as the government has failed to respond effectively, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 102-page report, “‘I Thought I’d Never See My Mom Again’: Recruitment and Use of Children by Colombian Armed Groups,” examines the dynamics of child recruitment, the factors that place children at risk, and the strategies and tools used by armed groups, including through social media platforms, to recruit them. Researchers also analyzed the government’s response and its shortcomings in preventing child recruitment, protecting and rescuing children, assisting the reintegration of those who have been released, and prosecuting the individuals responsible. “Armed groups in Colombia are recruiting children with impunity, as protection systems are failing, and social media platforms have become a more effective recruiting ground,” said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “Every child recruited is indicative of a government failure.” At least 1,500 children have been recruited since 2021, according to Ombudsperson Office data Human Rights Watch reviewed. While comprehensive data is lacking, the official figures available also point to a sharp rise in cases since 2023. Dissident armed groups that emerged from the demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas are behind the vast majority of reported cases and more than half of the cases are concentrated in Cauca, a southwestern state. Indigenous communities account for nearly half of all reported cases despite making up just 4 percent of Colombia’s population. Over 30 percent were children between the ages of 10 and 14, whose recruitment can be considered a war crime under international law. Human Rights Watch conducted 184 interviews with government officials, humanitarian workers, Indigenous and community leaders, members of human rights and children’s rights organizations, and child protection officers; and held in-person and virtual group meetings with children who had been victims of recruitment or at risk. Researchers reviewed over 70 accounts and 40 posts on social media platforms, such as Facebook and TikTok, that glorified armed group membership and encouraged users to join. Researchers also reviewed and analyzed data from multiple sources, including national institutions and local governments. Armed and criminal groups have taken advantage of poverty, social exclusion, domestic violence, and barriers to education, to recruit children with promises of power, money, and prestige. Children are also recruited through intermediaries and civilian recruiters who are paid up to US$1,000 per child. Recruitment has at times taken place in rural schools, including boarding schools. Armed groups have also taken advantage of social media platforms to glorify life in armed group ranks, make job offers that are essentially ruses aimed at recruiting, and engage with children through public chat forums and private messaging services. These platforms have not effectively detected, removed, or prevented such content. In some cases, their algorithms appeared to promote these posts, most likely expanding the armed groups’ reach. Human Rights Watch contacted both Meta (Facebook) and ByteDance (TikTok) about these findings. Both platforms reported that their policies prohibit the dissemination of content that promotes, supports, and proclaims violent organizations, including Colombian armed groups; and that they have mechanisms in place to prevent its presence in platforms and protect children. Both reported having removed the profiles that Human Rights Watch had flagged to them as containing explicit content of the armed groups, including recruiting offers. Armed groups frequently transfer children to other regions to isolate them, break family and community ties, and make their escape more difficult. In some cases, they receive military training. In others, they are used to gather intelligence, serve as messengers, provide medical care, guard hostages, participate in drug trafficking, or serve as bodyguards for commanders. Girls are particularly exposed to sexual violence. Government policies and strategies to prevent child recruitment, protect and rescue children, and ensure the recovery and reintegration of those released have serious shortcomings, Human Rights Watch found. The National Public Policy on Prevention, passed in 2018, is outdated, and lacks a clear action plan and a dedicated budget. The body charged with coordinating the government response, the Intersectoral Commission for the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of, and Sexual Violence against, Children and Adolescents (CIPRUNNA), lacks enforcement capacity and the resources needed to implement policies at the local level. Other government efforts are too limited in scope and unable to match the expanding scale of the problem. State and municipal governments face budgetary and capacity constraints that leave many children without protection. The government’s recovery and reintegration efforts for released children have failed to adapt to the new realities of the violence landscape in Colombia, and treat children unequally depending on the nature of the armed group that victimizes them. Those recruited by groups considered parties to the armed conflict enter a specialized program and are eligible for reparations. Children used by armed groups deemed to be criminal groups that are not parties to the armed conflict can be prosecuted or referred to a standard program for children who have suffered abuse. In the absence of meaningful state mechanisms, local community organizations, such as the unarmed guards who protect Indigenous communities, have taken a leading role to protect and support children, and rescue them from armed groups, but at grave risk. Some have been killed in retaliation. The justice system has almost entirely failed child victims of recruitment. In the last decade, roughly 1 percent of the criminal complaints into child recruitment have led to a criminal investigation, and only 0.2 percent resulted in a conviction, most of low-level perpetrators. The new administration of President Abelardo de la Espriella should adopt a comprehensive security and justice policy to end these grave human rights violations, Human Rights Watch said. The government should make sure that the agencies in charge of addressing child recruitment, especially at a municipal level, have enough resources and staff. Crucially, the government should also support, and work with, Indigenous organizations and other local leaders to protect children across Colombia. Social media platforms should conduct human rights due diligence to identify, assess, prevent, mitigate, and account for risks from their systems that may contribute to the recruitment and use of children by armed groups. “Stopping child recruitment will demand much more than just soldiers on the ground,” Goebertus said. “Children at risk of being recruited urgently need opportunities to study and make a living.”