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NEWS STORY
 April 1, 2009 Henrik Halvardsson, LWF - World Service Colombia The internal conflict of Colombia has raged the country for more than 40 years. It has left thousands of dead, wounded, and maimed. Several thousands have disappeared and around three million have had to flee their own homes as a direct consequence of the conflict. But as the media tend to focus their attention on the armed groups and the drug business, the children of Colombia and their wellbeing have been left partially invisible. The guerillas, the paramilitaries, displaced persons, drugs... The conflict in Colombia is too often reported from a very narrow perspective. Few tend to visibilise the hardships of the some of the most weak and fragile groups of society, namely the children and adolescents. But the reality speaks for itself. According to official statistics, 40% of the Colombian population is under 18 years old (roughly around 16 million people). Of these, six and a half million live in poverty, more than one and a half million do not attend school, close to two million work and three million do not have access to health, such as clinics and hospitals. Of Colombia's officially recognized three million internally displaced persons (IDPs), 80% are women and children, claims Save the Children. In a report from last year, UNICEF estimates that 15,000 children under the age of five, die every year out of for example suffocation at birth, breathing infections, congenital malformations and anemia. 40% of these 15,000 girls and boys die out of malnutrition. And these are only the official numbers. In fact, the real number is much, much higher but no one knows the actual level of deaths. The situation is severe in all parts of the country, but especially in regions such as Choco, Cauca, Narino, La Guajira, and Vichada. These are all remote areas, far from the more developed cities of Bogota and Medellin. Child soldiers The recruitment of children and adolescents is condemned and prohibited by the Geneva Convention and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It states that no child under the age of 15 shall take part in hostilities, and that children exposed to armed conflict shall receive special protection. These recruitments are also considered a crime under the Colombian Criminal Code. Despite such prohibitions, thousands of children in Colombia are actively involved in armed groups. According to the UN Secretary General in 2003, 7,000 children in Colombia were in the ranks of armed groups, and an additional 7,000 were involved in urban militias. The majority of these children are forced into the ranks of the paramilitaries and the various guerilla groups, others join out of their own free will. Or do they? The vast majority of children and youngsters in Colombia grow up in extremely dire conditions and find themselves with no or very few alternatives. Higher education is scarce, only available in bigger cities, and expensive. Employment opportunities are also few and far between. Hence many are tempted and lured into joining armed groups with the promises of a brighter future; money, food, materialistic items. They also see the kind of respect and fear the members of the illegal armed groups face in their communities. Many of these girls, sometimes as young as 12 to 14, are used as servants; they prepare food, clean, run errands. Too many end up as sex slaves. A lucrative sex industry But it is not only within the ranks of the illegal armed groups that young girls and boys are being sexually exploited in Colombia. For some, the highly lucrative sex trade becomes a way of making enough money to support their families. Others are forced by family members, friends or unscrupulous men and women. "Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict" estimates that between 20,000 to 35,000 children are forced into sexual work across the country, with between 5,000 and 10,000 girls and 1,000 boys working as prostitutes in the capital Bogota alone. Some reports show that these sexually exploited children can earn twice as much for having sex without a condom. Hence increasing exposure to HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. FACTS about LWF/World Service in Colombia: The program started in 2006, and has been fully developed from a Human Rights Based Approach. Our six strategic objectives are: To contribute to the empowerment of communities suffering the effects of the armed conflict and poverty, to support and strengthen peace alternatives, to contribute to the fulfillment of human rights for all Colombians, increase the visibility of the Colombian situation at international level, to respond to emergencies and promote sustainable risk management, and increase organizational strengthening and institutional visibility. We give priority to peoples and organisations whose rights have been violated and who have been marginalized from society. LWF/WS Colombia focuses its work mainly in the regions of Arauca and Choco. URL: story url
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