Transitional justice orders the Government to recognize that recruited children are not "war machines"

A boy sits near an AK-47 assault rifle at a FARC checkpoint on February 26, 2001 in Cristales, Colombia. Carlos Villalon (Getty Images)

Never again should children be called "war machines."

The Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), the Colombian court that was born from the agreements between the Colombian Government and the extinct FARC in 2016, made public this Thursday an order in which it orders the Government of Gustavo Petro that, within a maximum period within 15 days, make a public statement that recognizes minors under 18 years of age recruited for the war as victims of the armed conflict.

Additionally, the JEP orders the Government to incorporate new actions into its military doctrine so that this quality of victim is recognized in the ranks of the public force, and the "justificatory speeches" of the past are over.

On this point, the JEP points in particular to some statements that, the magistrates consider, did a lot of damage: those of the Defense Minister, Diego Molano,

To understand the order, you have to go back to March of that year, when Iván Duque was president.

At that time there was a bombing by the National Army of a camp of FARC dissidents, led at the time by Gentil Duarte.

However, shortly after the attack it was learned that a dozen minors were among the dead.

The media immediately called Minister Molano, who justified the attack despite the fact that there were children in the camp.

"What we have here are war machines," he responded then in statements to the radio.

“They stop being victims when they commit crimes.

Unfortunately they become criminals, ”he added to another medium.

He also affirmed that guerrilla training transforms minors into "young and dangerous combatants."

The JEP explains that Minister Molano – who had previously been director of the Colombian Institute for Family Welfare – went against what the national legislation says, which has already recognized on several occasions that boys and girls who have been recruited by armed groups They are victims of war, not criminals.

An example is the law on victims approved in 2011, during the Government of Juan Manuel Santos, and another is a ruling of the Constitutional Court, from 2005, which explicitly says: "it is the obligation of the State to promote the best interest, special protection and the fundamental rights of these minors, in their condition as particularly vulnerable victims of the armed conflict”.

However, the special court of peace recognizes that one thing is the law and another thing is to change the speeches that have justified warfare.

"Political language and public language are important to ensure a symbolic medium free of violence," the court says.

“Institutional actors cannot use any type of language to refer to the inhabitants of the national territory.

They must take care not to stigmatize political opponents and not to revictimize with their words the victims of very serious crimes, such as illegal recruitment.

But, in addition, the State authorities must recognize the performative effect of language.

Things are done with words ”, adds the JEP car.

What the words did, according to the court, was not only to stigmatize and re-victimize those who were recruited minors, but also to discourage those who participate in macro case 07 carried out by the JEP, which examines how forced recruitment was in the armed conflict. until 2016. According to the JEP, only between 1996 and 2016, more than 18,000 minors were recruited by the FARC.

In this Thursday's order, the JEP mentions that more than 500 minors have been recruited between September 2016 and August 2022 by different armed groups.

Children continue to be victims of new dynamics of forced recruitment, so it is important that the State recognize their status as victims in the fighting, the court considers.

The JEP recognizes that the new Defense Minister appointed by President Petro, Iván Velázquez, has had an attitude contrary to that of Diego Molano.

In August of last year, Velázquez said that no military action should endanger the civilian population, or minors, to avoid repeating "very painful acts of the past."

He did not mention them but, in addition to the Molano case, Guillermo Botero, the first defense minister of the Duque government, resigned due to the imminent approval of a motion of censure after it was learned that eight minors had died in another bombing against dissidents. of the FARC.

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