The Ministry of National Defense, through the Demobilized Humanitarian Assistance Group, joins the International Red Hands Day, sponsored by Unicef, where Every February 12th, the voice is raised to ask that the involvement of boys and girls in armed conflicts in the world be eliminated.
This day has been commemorated since 2002, after the ratification by 159 nations, including Colombia, of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the participation of children in armed conflicts.
Precisely, Last week, following a court ruling, Defense Minister Iván Velásquez Gómez publicly acknowledged that every minor recruited by the conflict is a victim. Therefore, he announced that a review of the military and police doctrine will be carried out.
“Incorporate into Public Policy and military doctrine actions that contribute to eliminating justifying discourses, to recognize that recruited children and adolescents are, above all, victims of the armed conflict and that in operations in which they may be affected they are must always respect the principles of precaution, military necessity, humanity and proportionality,” Minister Velásquez explained.
To counteract this scourge, the Ministry of Defense is advancing in its inter-institutional and multidisciplinary strategy ‘Future Generation’´, to prevent children from the 120 prioritized municipalities from joining the illegal armed groups.
This is how, last year, it was possible to reach more than 12,000 children and adolescents with prevention programs of humanitarian social content. Training was also carried out for more than 4,000 commanders of all levels in the Public Force, who were taught about regulations, procedures with children and adolescents and guarantees of their differential rights.
During the government of President Gustavo Petro, 69 minors have been separated from illegal armed groupsthe vast majority belonging to the Farc dissidents, while in 2022 154 boys and girls were disassociated.