Child Soldiers in Colombia: The Recruitment of Children into Non-State Violent Armed Groups

Situación actual y perspectivas de la persecución a reclutadores de menores: el caso colombiano

“…El 80% de ellos se entregaron a las autoridades, mientras los demás fueron capturados o recuperados por parte de la fuerza pública. En total, un 54% pertenecía a las FARC, 28% a las AUC, 14% al ELN y el restante 4% a otros grupos (Bjørkhaug, 2010).…”

Youth & Armed Groups in Colombia

“…The way in which the children are enrolled falls into a gray zone between voluntary and forced recruitment, with elements of forced circumstances and elements of voluntary actions (Bjorkhaug 2010). …”

“…Inequalities are extreme: approximately 49.2 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line and ten per cent of the population earns about 46.1 per cent of the country's income (Bjorkhaug 2010).…”

Tracing Subjective Drives: A Narrative Approach to Study Youth’s Engagement with and Disengagement from Armed Groups in Colombia

“…(Villanueva O'Driscoll et al 2013). Voluntary is thereby not acknowledged as valid considering their living circumstances (Brett 2003;Burgess 2009;Bjørkhaug 2010), and Wessells (2006) mentioned these children's realities "blur the boundaries between choice and coercion" whereby the duality of victims versus perpetrators is overly simplistic (p. 33). The literature mentions many risk factors for engaging with armed groups.…”