Bogotá – Seventy-eight children have been killed or maimed by unidentified groups and also by dissidents from the demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia . This is according to the recent UN Secretary-General’s Report on Children and Armed Conflict, which covers the year 2024. On average, a child is recruited and used by armed groups in Colombia every 20 hours.
The United Nations Children’s Fund has also stated that the recruitment of children by illegal armed groups in Colombia has quadrupled in five years, and the violence is endangering the lives of tens of thousands of young victims.
While the UN verified 116 cases of recruitment in 2020, it recorded 453 in 2024. However, a report by the International Crisis Group considers the figure likely to be much higher, as families rarely report the disappearances of their children for fear of reprisals from armed groups. “It is difficult to know the true extent of this practice, which is considered a war crime and subject to investigation by the International Criminal Court,” the report states. The report notes that the Colombian police estimate that more than half of the new recruits for illegal armed groups are minors, and that data from the Ministry of Defense indicates that the ranks of these groups increased by approximately 3,300 people between December 2024 and July 2025. It is likely that there are more than 1,000 child soldiers in the country. For illegal armed groups, “children have become cheap and expendable combatants, capable of performing the most dangerous roles, whether on the front lines or in the production and distribution of explosive devices.” “They are foot soldiers in expansion campaigns and cannon fodder in battles with rival groups. Young people are initially recruited into criminal networks by running errands or acting as guards; they are also sexually exploited by members of these groups,” the report adds. The report also recounts how, months before being murdered in March 2025 for rescuing recruited children, an Indigenous leader from Cauca had declared that “every child has a value, according to their characteristics.” Prices range from approximately $135 to $540, depending on what the groups consider valuable. In some cases, children are moved to new territories to make them harder to locate and to bolster the ranks of the groups in areas where they are attempting to expand. This phenomenon was highlighted by the deaths of 15 children between August and October 2025 in the Department of Guaviare . The children who died resided in Guaviare and Amazonas, but were born in other departments such as Putumayo, Nariño, Caquetá, Norte de Santander, and Arauca.
In theory, the recruitment and use of children decreased after the 2016 peace agreement between the government and the FARC, which led to the demobilization of more than 80% of its combatants. However, dissident groups, the ELN, and the Gulf Clan criminal group. UNICEF attributes this increase to factors such as escalating violence, widespread poverty, lack of education, and the limited availability of social services and critical infrastructure, especially in rural areas.
Since 2012, February 12 has been commemorated as the International Day of the Red Hand, a date that invites reflection and calls for an end to the recruitment and use of children and adolescents in armed conflicts.
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