Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Bogota (Fides Service) - Although international law used to prohibit the use of minors under 15 in war (Geneva Convention 1949 and the Convention on Children’s Rights 1989) and since 2000 the age is 18, all the irregular armed groups engaged in the conflict which grips Colombia recruit and use minors not only under 18 but also 15 and under. This is denounced by Human Rights Watch in its first report on Colombia “You will learn not to cry: Children Fighting Colombia”. At least one out of every four irregular soldiers fighting the civil war in Colombia is under 18 and several thousands of them are under 15 which is contrary to the Convention on Children’s Rights. Although there are no reliable figures with regard the number of child soldiers in Colombia, Human Rights Watch affirms that they are more than 11,000.
The report, drafted on the basis of interview with 112 boys and girls former child soldiers, shows that Guerrilla and paramilitary take advantage of poor children in rural areas in conflict zones. In fact “irregular forces recruit children with attractive stories of military life, promising them money and a future job. Sometime poor families send their children to join the troops because they cannot keep them and they know that they will be given at least food and clothing and protection. Many children join guerrilla groups to escape domestic violence, physical or sexual abuse, or to find the affection they are not given at home”.
These children fight an adult war not knowing why. At the age of 11 they are trained to use firearms and to march for days with only a little food and water, bitten by insects and frustrated by torments. The adults order the children to kill, mutilate, torture, to prepare them to commit even more cruelties. At the age of 13 the children are trained to use automatic weapons, mortars and explosives. Part of the training of children is to show them how prisoners are tortured. Some of them are obliged to shoot their friends to prove their courage.
Between one quarter and half the members of guerrilla groups are minors and some are only 8 years old. Sometimes girls join the troops to escape domestic violence. Although sexual abuse is not normally tolerated, many adult commanders use their power to force girl soldiers to have relations with them. Girls as young as 12 are forced to use means of contraception and those who become pregnant are forced to have an abortion.
The life of child soldiers is similar to that of the adults. Their movements are controlled and programmed in detail. The worst thing -former child soldiers say - are the long marches and camps, days and nights with only a little food or nothing to eat at all. March discipline is rigid and the children obey out of fear. They are made to stand guard for long hours, and they try not to fall asleep for fear of being shot while they sleep. Children who do not obey orders or try to escape are often executed. And in many cases both executed and executioners are children.
José Miguel Vivanco, executive director of Human Rights Watch America has denounced “guerrilla and paramilitary groups for using children to fight and in doing so they inflict inestimable damage on Colombia because for decades to come these children will carry the scars of this terrible experience ”.
In an article published by the magazine issued by the Pontifical Mission Societies in Spain, Sister Francisca Galache, Comboni missionary Sister working in Colombia, said that war and violence have a lasting effect on the lives of these children. Sister Galache tells of one particularly sad experience: “Pescador and Mazorca, two little girls living in the Choco district of Colombia with whom I have shared many wonderful moments were always very frightened by the noise of helicopters. Every time they heard the rumble of a helicopter they would look at me with eyes full of fear and they would say: “They are coming… we must hide!» (R.Z.) (Agenzia Fides 27/3/2004; righe 52 - parole 714)
