When War Recruits Childhood

Author: Carlos Cotes

Organized Armed Groups have long understood that the true advantage in warfare lies in targeting the weak. They enter vulnerable communities where the State fails to reach areas marked by poverty, institutional absence, and school dropout. In such environments, children set aside their dreams and become military targets. The recruitment of minors is not only a war crime, but a calculated strategy that exploits neglect, indifference, and silence.

Once recruited, children are used as strategic assets in war. Armed groups position them as the outermost security ring, effectively turning them into human shields. They know that the presence of minors restricts the operational capacity of the Public Force. In combat situations, children are exposed as cannon fodder, assuming lethal risks that no adult should ever impose on them, losing lives that had barely begun.

In a perverse manner, armed groups do not use children solely for combat, but also to shield themselves through them. They take refuge in the State’s legal conscience, knowing that international humanitarian law demands the absolute protection of minors. This entails restrictions on military operations, aerial bombardments, and the use of force, ensuring that the child is always treated as a victim and never as a target of war, as must be the case in defense of their fundamental rights.

Faced with this reality, the solution cannot be exclusively military. The State must invest swiftly and decisively in education, quality of life, employment, and institutional presence. It is essential to establish territorial control, assert authority, and deliver essential programs to rural and hard-to-reach areas. Reporting child recruitment must be protected and encouraged, and firm public policies must arrive before rifles do.

The recruitment of minors is not a new phenomenon; it has always existed and has evolved into a form of human trafficking. Children are used as pieces in the game of war, through coercion or as part of political strategies by organized armed groups. Through them, these groups increase their ranks and disseminate pseudo-communist ideologies that mask violence.