1. COMISIÓN COLOMBIANA DE JURISTAS 1
Organización no gubernamental con status consultivo ante la ONU
Filial de la Comisión Internacional de Juristas (Ginebra) y de la Comisión Andina de Juristas (Lima)
PERSONERÍA JURÍDICA : RESOLUCIÓN 1060, AGOSTO DE 1988 DE LA ALCALDÍA MAYOR DE BOGOTÁ
Colombia: Human rights situation of girls and boys in the context of the
internal armed conflict1
The situation of human rights and humanitarian law remains very worrisome.2 In the
years 2007 and 2008, serious human rights violations and breaches of humanitarian
law have persisted and are being committed by all the groups participating in the
hostilities: guerrilla and paramilitary groups, as well as the state security forces. 3
Boys’ and girls’ rights to life and personal integrity, to personal and sexual freedom,
and to not be linked to armed groups that take part in the hostilities have been
affected. Their situation of defenselessness continues to worsen.
In the past three years, an increase in extrajudicial executions of girls and boys has
been registered, perpetrated directly by members of the state security forces which, on
occasion, have presented the bodies of their victims to the judicial authorities and the
media as those of “insurgents dead in combat.” On January 6, 2008, in the town of
Colombia (Huila), 16 year-old Óscar Javier Ortiz Lozano and three other persons
were assassinated by alleged members of the state security forces. The act was
carried out when members of the Police and the Armed Forces arrived at the
corregimiento of San Marcos and opened fire in a community public venue. The boy
was the target of five shots in the back when he tried to escape the attack. Three
civilians were injured in the same event.4
Other extrajudicial executions of children were registered in the departments of
Caquetá and Tolima.
In spite of the fact that, in the framework of negotiations with the government, the
paramilitary groups committed themselves to stopping their attacks against the
civilian population, it is evident that they did not keep their word and continue to
violate the right to life of girls and boys. For example, on March 26, 2007, in Bello
(Antioquia), a 14 year-old girl was the victim of homicide and sexual violence, and
another girl, ten years old, was injured by presumed paramilitaries, two of whom were
15 year-old boys, themselves victims of recruitment. 5 It is worthy of note that the
Cacique Nutibara Block of the paramilitary AUC group was the first to participate in
a demobilization ceremony, on November 25, 2003, in Medellín (Antioquia).
Homicides were also reported, committed by the guerrilla group FARC-EP, in the
departments of Putumayo, Nariño, Valle and Huila, among others. On January 20,
2008, in the city of Palmira (Valle), Martha Liliana Machín Rodríguez, a woman who
was three months pregnant, and her daughter Luisa, a nine month-old baby, were
victims of a landmine presumably planted by the FARC guerrilla. The baby and her
mother died as a consequence of the explosion. Martha suffered the amputation of one
1
This presentation was prepared with the collaboration of the Coalition against the recruitment of boys, girls, and young people
into the armed conflict in Colombia, Coalico.
2
Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the human rights situation in Colombia, February 28,
2008, A/HRC/7/39.
3
Report of the United Nations Secretary General to the Security Council on children and armed conflicts, December 21, 2007,,
A/62/609–S/2007/757, paragraph. 118.
4
“A mi sobrino lo mataron” [My nephew was assassinated], Diario del Huila, January 8, 2008, www.diariodelhuila.com.
5
The events took place at the home of the two girls in the IDP settlement of Altos de Oriente, when the perpetrators (among
them two minors) made a violent incursion into the home and stabbed repeatedly the two minors, raping one of them. CINEP
Databank on Sociopolitical Violence., Revista Noche y Niebla, No. 34/35, Page 239.
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Email : ccj@coljuristas.org Website: www.coljuristas.org Bogotá, Colombia

2. COMISIÓN COLOMBIANA DE JURISTAS 2
Organización no gubernamental con status consultivo ante la ONU
Filial de la Comisión Internacional de Juristas (Ginebra) y de la Comisión Andina de Juristas (Lima)
PERSONERÍA JURÍDICA : RESOLUCIÓN 1060, AGOSTO DE 1988 DE LA ALCALDÍA MAYOR DE BOGOTÁ
of her lower limbs and injuries in the other, and the baby girl received the shock wave
and was left for hours lying next to her mother’s corpse, suffering the effects of the
cold and hunger until she finally died. The relatives and neighbors of the victims had
to carry out the search and rescue of the corpses.6
Furthermore, on March 24, 2008, in Santacruz Guachavez (Nariño), a 12 year-old boy
was assassinated by presumed members of the guerrilla group ELN. The victim died
when he stepped on a landmine that was planted, according to the mayor’s office, by
the guerrilla group ELN. The boy was in fifth grade and was the son of Hernán
Arteaga, member of the town council of Guachavez. 7
The majority of the lesions suffered by girls and boys registered in the past year were
caused by the use of weapons banned by humanitarian law (anti-personnel mines,
arms with indiscriminate effects, booby traps, etc.). On March 25, 2008, in Argelia
(Cauca), two children were wounded in an attack with explosives attributed to the
guerrilla group FARC-EP. The victims, 7 and 9 years old, suffered lesions in their
arms when five rounds of anfo (ammonium nitrate fuel oil) and dynamite exploded in
the town square of the municipality. 8
The right to personal freedom has also been gravely violated. The taking of boys
and girls as hostages by the FARC-EP and supposedly demobilized paramilitaries has
also been registered. In January 2008, the situation that a child born in captivity had to
endure finally came to light. It had to do with the son of Clara Rojas, a woman who
was kidnapped by the guerrilla group FARC-EP and was kept in captivity for more
than five years. The boy was in the hands of the armed group during the first few
months of his life together with his mother, but he was later handed over to José
Crisanto Gómez, a man who said that after the FARC-EP gave him the boy, he took
him to the hospital in San José del Guaviare (300 kilometers to the southeast of
Bogotá). Emmanuel was born on July 20, 2004, and was taken to a hospital in the
south of the country on June 15, 2005; some months later, the state welfare agency
ICBF found the boy in situation of abandonment and referred him to one of its
assistance programs. However, after efforts were made to liberate three of the
kidnapped people, among them the boy, at the moment of the liberation of his mother
in January of 2008 the state informed public opinion that the child had been under its
jurisdiction for a few months already. 9
Additionally, members of the state security forces violated the right to freedom of
girls and boys through arbitrary detentions. Among the victims is an indigenous child,
6
“Martha nunca quiso dejar la montaña” [Martha never wanted to leave the mountain], El Tiempo daily newspaper, March 3,
2008, pages 1-9; “Campesina y sus dos bebés mueren en campo minado” [Campesino woman and her two babies die in mined
field] El Tiempo daily newspaper, January 29, 2008, Pp. 1-13; and “Mueren madre y pequeña hija al pisar mina” [Mother and
her small daughter die after stepping on landmine], El País daily newspaper, January 29, 2008, www.eltiempo.com.
7
“Mina antipersona mató a niño de 12 años” [Anti-personnel mine killed 12 year-old boy], El Tiempo daily newspaper, March
23 2008, pp.. 1-6; “Un estudiante fue otra víctima de las minas” [A student became another victim of mines], Diario del Sur,
March 25, 2008, www.diariodelsur.com;
8
“Ejército contrarresta avance de subversivos” [Army counteracts advance of the subversives], El País daily newspaper, March
26, 2008, www.elpais.com.
9
“Clara Rojas visita a su hijo Emmanuel en un orfanato de Bogotá” [Clara Rojas visits her son in an orphanage in Bogotá] El
País daily newspaper, January 14, 2008, www.elpais.com; “ICBF entregará a Emmanuel cuando Clara Rojas lo decida” [ICBF
will hand over Emmanuel whenever Clara Rojas so decides] El Tiempo daily newspaper, January 11, 2008, www.eltiempo.com.
“FARC/rehenes: el acertijo del ADN” [FARC/hostages: the puzzle of the ADN], BBC World/Latin America, Thursday, March 3,
2008, in http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/latin_america/newsid_7168000/7168297.stm
Calle 72 Nº 12-65 piso 7 PBX: (571) 3768200 – (571) 3434710 Fax : (571) 3768230 2
Email : ccj@coljuristas.org Website: www.coljuristas.org Bogotá, Colombia

3. COMISIÓN COLOMBIANA DE JURISTAS 3
Organización no gubernamental con status consultivo ante la ONU
Filial de la Comisión Internacional de Juristas (Ginebra) y de la Comisión Andina de Juristas (Lima)
PERSONERÍA JURÍDICA : RESOLUCIÓN 1060, AGOSTO DE 1988 DE LA ALCALDÍA MAYOR DE BOGOTÁ
the son of a community leader, as well as campesino girls and boys. During these
detentions, the girls and boys are attacked physically and verbally, and on many
occasions they are singled out as being guerrilla members. On February 23, 2007, in
the city of Bogotá, two Kankuamo indigenous boys, Harold and Duver Villazón
Pinto, 15 and 16 years old respectively, were arbitrarily detained by members of the
National Police. The event took place as the two youths were on their way home from
the “Camilo Torres” School. After they were detained and taken to the police station
on Calle 26/Carrera 7, they were subjected to cruel and inhuman treatment and were
finally freed at 10 p.m. after being victims of harassment.10
With respect to sexual violence against young women and girls, such acts continue to
be a recurrent practice that seriously affects their personal integrity. Members of the
guerrilla, paramilitary groups and state security forces continue to commit acts that go
against the personal integrity of women, seriously affecting their sexual and
reproductive rights and making it less and less feasible that young women and girls
can enjoy the right to a life free of violence.
The involvement of boys, girls, and adolescents in armed groups or armed forces
that take part in the hostilities is a situation that raises great concern. This
involvement can take place directly, through the recruitment of boys and girls so they
will join the ranks of the combatant groups; or indirectly, in activities such as spying,
acting as look-outs or messengers, or in domestic or sexual services, among other
activities.11
The guerrilla groups continue to be perpetrators of the crime of recruitment of girls
and boys.12 Thus, on April 1, 2008, in the municipality of Samaná (Caldas), a 15 year-
old girl, the victim of recruitment by the 47th Front of the guerrilla group FARC-EP,
gave herself up to the National Army. 13
Additionally, schools are still being used by the paramilitary groups that control the
lives of girls and boys, punishing them and recruiting them through threats and
financial offers. In the month of April 2008, in the department of Antioquia,
complaints were registered about the incursion of paramilitary groups in schools.
Presumed paramilitaries entered educational facilities in the corregimiento of San
Cristóbal en Medellín (Antioquia) to punish the children who in their opinion behaved
badly, cutting their hair and threatening them. The respective school human rights
advocates in San Cristóbal and Medellín agree in pointing out that many complaints
have been registered, that the cases correspond to actions involving paramilitary
10
It is worth pointing out that these indigenous children are displaced and are victims of persecution, since it is not the first
arbitrary detention to which the children of this indigenous family are subjected. In April, 2006, Duvier Daniel Villazón Pinto he
was threatened with a gun and forced to leave a store on South 33rd Street/Caracas Avenue, by members of the Police CAI of the
Guastavo Restrepo quarter. This situation was not denounced because it was considered an isolated incident, but taking the tretas
into account, the breaking and entering, and other arbirary detentions the father and the smaller brothers were subjected to, it
becomes evident that we are dealing with the persecution o fan indigenous family by members of the state security forces.
Information available in the denunciations data base of the Colombian Commission of Jurists, Denunciations Nº. D- 06269, D-
06270 y D-06272. Revista Noche y Niebla, No. 34/35, February 23/2007, Bogota-Cundinamarca, p. 212.
11
See in this respect, VII Informe sobre violencia sociopolítico contra mujeres, jóvenes y niñas en Colombia, 2006-
2007.[Seventh report on sociopolitical violence against women, young people and girls in Colombia, 2006-2007.]
12
“Varios niños guerrilleros han desertado de las Farc” [Several guerrillero children have deserted from the FARC], Diario del
Sur, March 24, 2008, www.diariodelsur.com.
13
“Se entregó quinceañera del Frente 47 de las Farc” [15 year-old girl from the 47th Front of the FARC gave herself up], La
Patria, daily, April 2, 2008, www.lapatria.com.
Calle 72 Nº 12-65 piso 7 PBX: (571) 3768200 – (571) 3434710 Fax : (571) 3768230 3
Email : ccj@coljuristas.org Website: www.coljuristas.org Bogotá, Colombia

4. COMISIÓN COLOMBIANA DE JURISTAS 4
Organización no gubernamental con status consultivo ante la ONU
Filial de la Comisión Internacional de Juristas (Ginebra) y de la Comisión Andina de Juristas (Lima)
PERSONERÍA JURÍDICA : RESOLUCIÓN 1060, AGOSTO DE 1988 DE LA ALCALDÍA MAYOR DE BOGOTÁ
control, and that such violations of the rights of boys and girls take place
continuously. 14
Likewise, cases have been observed of indirect involvement of boys and girls by the
state security forces through integration activities or their use in military tasks or as
informants. The use by the state forces of demobilized children as informants or
guides to find the camps of the groups they belong to has been amply documented by
the Ombudsman’s Office.
Regarding the demobilization process of boys and girls, serious obstacles arise. On
the one hand, according to information of the Ombudsman’s Office, only 12.2% of
the children in the assistance program of the ICBF have said they arrived there
directly, 32,6% arrived at police stations, and 58,9% at military battalions. On the
other hand, the situation of the few children who are able to leave the armed groups
and are currently part of the assistance program of the ICBF does not improve
substantially. 15
The situation of abuse of the rights of boys and girls who continue to be involved in
paramilitary groups that did not demobilize, that changed their denomination or that
rearmed is extremely worrisome. Although the government has claimed that such
structures are related to common delinquency, the truth is that various reports –
among them, some written by the OAS mission of support to the peace process,
MAPP/OEA – consider the phenomenon as much more complex, and that is the
reason why there are no guarantees that the children will be handed over to the ICBF
assistance program.16
Finally, forced displacement remains a problem of great concern; as the
Constitutional Court determined, it is an unconstitutional state of affairs that puts
boys, girls, and adolescents in a situation of extreme vulnerability. 17 In this sense, the
Secretary General in his report indicated that “the recruitment of children and internal
displacement are closely related, as in Colombia, since in many cases displacement is
the only means that the families in certain areas have to keep their children from
being recruited by armed groups.” 18
Bogotá, May 2008
14
“Incursión al colegio fue para, Personería” [Incursion in school was by paramilitaries], El Colombiano daily, April 24, 2008,
www.elcolombiano.com; “En colegio paras castigaron alumnos” [Paramilitaries punished students in school] Caracol Noticias,
April 22, 2008, in Sala de Videos (Noticias, Nacional, Conflicto Armado) en www.canalcaracol.com.
15
Ombudsman’s delegate for the rights of children, youths and women, and United Nations Children’s Fund, Unicef,
Caracterización de las niñas, niños y adolescentes desvinculados de los grupos armados ilegales: Inserción social y productiva
desde un enfoque de derechos humanos, Bogotá, 2006.
16
Ninth Quarterly Report of the Secretary General to the Permanent Council on the Support Mission to the Peace Process in
Colombia (MAPP/OEA), OEA/Ser.G CP/doc. 4237/07, 3 julio 2007, pág. 5.
17
Consitutional Court Sentence T-025 de 2004.
18
Report of the Secretary General to the United Nations Security Council on children and armed conflicts, December 21, 2007,
A/62/609–S/2007/757, Paragraph 6.
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Email : ccj@coljuristas.org Website: www.coljuristas.org Bogotá, Colombia