Ivan Mordisco, commander of one of the main FARC dissidents, in San Vicente del Caguan.Ernesto Guzman Jr. (EFE)
Dissidents of the defunct FARC guerrillas were the biggest perpetrators of grave violations against minors in Colombia last year, according to UN Secretary-General António Guterres' report on children and armed conflict around the world. The United Nations verifies in the document published this week that the different armed groups recruited at least 130 children between 11 and 17 years old in 2022, 87 of them by the structures that departed from the peace agreement.
"I am concerned about the continuing increase in the number of grave violations, especially with regard to the recruitment and use and killing and maiming of children by armed groups, in particular by FARC-EP dissident groups," Guterres warns in the chapter of the report dedicated to Colombia. "I am also concerned about the increase in the number of indigenous and Afro-Colombian children who are victims of grave violations. I urge armed groups to immediately cease violations, unconditionally release children and make concrete, time-bound commitments to halt and prevent grave violations."
The recent crisis in the dialogues with one of the FARC's largest dissident groups has highlighted the new dynamics of forced recruitment that fuel the armed groups' fire. The so-called Central General Staff, the current headed by Iván Mordisco, murdered last month three indigenous teenagers it had forcibly recruited in the jungle department of Putumayo. That massacre aroused widespread repudiation and led the government of Gustavo Petro to suspend the ceasefire agreed since New Year's with the dissidents in four departments: Meta, Caquetá, Guaviare and Putumayo.
In Colombia, seven internal armed conflicts persist, and four of them involve different dissident factions, according to the latest annual balance of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). In addition to the 87 children recruited by the dissidents in 2022, another 18 were recruited by the ELN, the last armed guerrilla group with which the government has agreed a ceasefire until next year. "I urge the parties to include child protection priorities in this dialogue and in any future negotiations from the outset," Guterres said, calling the talks with the ELN "encouraging."
Another 15 minors were recruited by the Clan del Golfo, the largest drug trafficking gang, with which the Executive also intends to dialogue as part of its policy of total peace with the different armed actors. Of the 130 children recruited, a hundred were released, 18 died and 12 remain linked to those groups, according to the report, which covers the period from January to December 2022.
Guterres commended the government for the progress made in preventing such violations, and in particular "for the suspension in August 2022 of air strikes against camps of armed groups in which children may have been present." The new security policy of the Petro Administration included from the outset the order to suspend bombing on targets where there may be minors.
That has been a focus of controversy in Colombia in recent years, in which at least 29 children died in such operations. The government of Petro's predecessor, Ivan Duque, faced several debates in Congress on the matter. Duque's first defense minister, Guillermo Botero, resigned in the face of an imminent no-confidence vote over a bombing that killed children, and his last defense chief, Diego Molano, was widely criticized for saying the minors recruited were "war machines." The current minister, Iván Velásquez, has reiterated that any child recruited is a victim.
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