Current Dynamics of Child Recruitment in Colombia *

Cristal Downing, Angela Olaya, Sofía Rivas, Dr Siobhan O’Neil, and Kato Van Broeckhoven

Julio 2022

This report is based on data collected as part of a phone survey of community members in 19 municipalities across Colombia, from April to May 2021 in 11 municipalities and November to December 2021, as outlined in detail below.1 It presents findings on past and current child recruitment patterns, with a particular focus on new dynamics of child recruitment that have arisen since the peace agreement between the Government of Colombia and the FARC-EP (“Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo”) in 2016, including changes in recruitment tactics and recruitment of Venezuelan migrant and refugee children. This data may be useful to government, UN, and NGO partners working in Colombia to support their policies and programming to prevent and respond to child recruitment in this changing landscape of insecurity and vulnerability. The report ends with an examination of key policy and programmatic implications of these findings.

https://unidir.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/MEAC_FindingsReport_14.pdf