- The III Latin American Thought Seminar on Children's Rights: "Challenges and responses to violence against girls in theaters of armed conflict and organized crime" is convened by REDLAMYC-Latin American and Caribbean Network for the Defense of Children's Rights, Girls and Adolescents and organized by the Alianza por la Niñez Colombiana, a member of this network of networks, within the framework of #TejiendoRedesInfancia, a project co-financed by the European Union.
- The Observatory for Children and Armed Conflict of the Coalition Against the Involvement of Boys, Girls and Young People in the Armed Conflict in Colombia (Coalico) indicates that between January and December 2018, 331 events of armed conflict were registered, of which 213 involved direct effects to this population, which means an increase compared to 2017, when 166 were registered.
- The Alianza por la Niñez Colombiana, in its report “Childhood, a victim of an armed conflict that still persists,” indicates that the State has not fully complied with any of the 18 recommendations related to the armed conflict, presented in 2015 by the Committee of the Rights of the Child (CRC).
On April 9, experts in the defense of children's rights in the region will meet in Colombia to analyze the challenges facing Latin America and the Caribbean in the face of violence against girls in theaters of armed conflict and organized crime. . This in order to review experiences and jointly analyze possible responses.
Among the experts will be Esmeralda Arosemena de Troitiño, who last February was elected as president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the main organ of the Organization of American States (OAS) in charge of the promotion and protection of human rights. human beings on the continent since 1959. Likewise, there will be Daniel Claverie, consultant for the Promotion and Protection of Rights Area of the Inter-American Institute for Children and Adolescents, organization of American States, and Juan Martín Pérez García, executive secretary of the Latin American Network and Caribeña for the Defense of the Rights of Boys, Girls and Adolescents (Redlamyc), among others.
They will participate in the III Latin American Thought Seminar on Children's Rights: "Challenges and responses to violence against girls in theaters of armed conflict and organized crime", which will take place at the Hotel and Convention Center - Metrotel 74 , from bogota, Colombia). The seminar is held within the framework of the #TejiendoRedesInfancia project between Redlamyc and the European Union and led in the country by the Alliance for Colombian Children, a member of the network of networks.
Unfortunate events such as the 10 of the most violent major cities in the world in Latin America, which even surpass the metropolises of countries at war like Syria, or that there are countries with conflicts of several years, demand forceful actions. And in that regional perspective, according to the executive secretary of REDLAMYC, Juan Martín Pérez García, Colombia has a lot to teach, not only because of the progress in a peace agreement –after 60 years of confrontations–, but because even with the conflict and drug trafficking has given clues as to where the exit is.
“The ongoing process of peace building; The progress it has made to confront organized crime and the articulation that organizations and civil society have make Colombia an important place to be there, listen, dialogue and, of course, to have a platform to call Latin America in everything as a whole and the states to the urgency of confronting the violence of which children and, particularly, girls in the region are victims ”, affirms Pérez.
This problem, despite the advances mentioned by the executive secretary of Redlamyc, seems to be reluctant to disappear in the national territory. Data from the Observatory of Childhood and Armed Conflict of the Coalition against the Involvement of Boys, Girls and Young People in the Armed Conflict in Colombia (Coalico) indicate that between January and December 2018 there were 331 events of armed conflict, of which 213 directly affected this population, which means an increase of 28,31% compared to 2017, when they registered 166.
New recruits and displacements
The Coalico also reveals that after encouraging figures between 2015 and 2017 of the decrease in cases of forced recruitment and the use of girls, boys and adolescents (product of the negotiations between the Government and the FARC), in 2018 they increased again. . There were reported 50 events related to involvement and recruitment, 28 of the use of girls and boys in civic-military campaigns, 66 forced displacement, 29 violations against the right to life and personal integrity, 21 attacks and occupations of civilian objects (such as schools and hospitals), 10 blockades of supplies and basic services, 7 violations against personal freedom and 3 against sexual freedom.
Likewise, the report "Childhood, victim of an armed conflict that still persists", published last November by the Alliance for Colombian Children, maintains that a total of 2'382.086 Colombians between the ages of 0 and 17 are victims of the armed conflict and 48.6 percent of them are girls, as Fundación PLAN points out.
In the same analysis, the Alliance confirms that the State has not yet complied with any of the 18 recommendations presented in 2015 by the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) related to the armed conflict, while pointing out that only six had seen any progress and various obstacles to overcome.
The report adds that of the total number of girls and boys who are victims of the conflict, the 99% has been forced into displacement and uprooting, a situation that plunges them into poverty, lack of protection and exposes them to other facts such as ties, sexual abuse and sexual abuse. accidents due to anti-personnel mines, among others.
In a panorama of these characteristics, the III Latin American Thought Seminar on the Rights of the Child is presented as an ideal public space to invite children and adolescents, representatives of civil society, international organizations, government agencies and experts in the rights of children. children and adolescents to reflect and identify the main challenges and findings for the fight against all forms of violence against this population, especially girls, in the context of the armed conflict and in organized crime scenes.
More information in: https://redlamyc.org/seminariointernacional/
Media contact:
Verónica Morales, Regional Communication Officer #TejiendoRedesInfancia +52 1 55 5620 9309
Photo by Kobby mendez on Unsplash
