What is happening in commune 13, they denounce recruitment of minors in popular sectors of Medellín

The 13th commune of Medellín has a history of violence that to this day persecutes the community that resides there. According to the latest news related to this area of the capital of Antioquia, the Personería warned about a possible recruitment of young people by the AGC, better known as the Black Eagles and dissidents. The public entity indicated that this fact was directly denounced by the community on the morning of April 20.

However, he assured that this problem has come from last year. The data indicate that during 2021, 8 cases of recruitment of minors, five women and three men, were documented in Aranjuez, Santa Cruz, Manrique and San Javier. It also warns that it is not possible to have a clear number of families or minors affected, since in some cases the victims are silent for fear of reprisals.

“It should be noted that this crime is under-registered (unreported cases), since many families, for fear of reprisals, do not make the corresponding complaints,” said auxiliary person Olga Lucía Rodríguez, as mentioned by El Colombiano; adding that the entity continues to process for prevent this type of violence “From the Personería de Medellín, we continue to carry out awareness-raising campaigns to combat this crime and also issue appropriate alerts for the competent entities to protect the rights of children in these communities”.

However, the problem has not only occurred in this commune, but has been spreading throughout the city. According to Semana Magazine, in the last few hours it was reported that a girl under 16 years of age was released, after being forced by illegal groups to “defend her interests in the mountains of Bajo Cauca in Antioquia”.

“A minor who was forcibly recruited by the agency outside the law of the area, was returned in the most deplorable conditions, ill. We call on institutions to articulate together so that this situation does not continue to happen in Antioquia territory,” said the Ombudsman of Antioquia, Yucelly Rincón, in an interview with Blu Radio.

This crime perpetuated by armed groups has left thousands of victims throughout Colombian history. Figures provided by the Observatory of Memory and Conflict (OMC) and the CNMH Directorate for the Construction of Historical Memory in February 2022, indicate that 17,886 cases of forced recruitment have been reported in the context of the armed conflict in Colombia.

The average age of recruitment of this population group in Colombia, which corresponds to 15 years; that 85.9% of the victims are between 13 and 17 years old; 13.75% are between 7 and 12 years old, and 0.35% were not older than six at the time of the crime.

“Recruitment violates the rights of children and young people to freedom, education, health, physical integrity, to have a family and even to life,” said the CNMH statement. He added that, the departments with the highest number of reported cases of forced recruitment of minors are: Caquetá, Cauca, Antioquia, Putumayo and Tolima.

For its part, the Constitutional Court established, in Order 251 of 2008, that the effects suffered by children and adolescents due to recruitment are different from those suffered by adults. The impacts of this crime also compromise the well-being of families and communities.

Likewise, a total of 190 situations of risk of forced recruitment, use and use of children and adolescents were identified through the Early Warning System of the Ombudsman's Office between 2017 and January 2022. So far in 2022, two early warnings have been issued in Putumayo and Valle del Cauca.

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