The tribunal established in Colombia to bring justice to crimes committed during the civil war between the government and armed groups, which has been going on for half a century, handed down its first indictments on Wednesday March 8 for the recruitment of child soldiers.
Ten former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas have been charged with allegedly recruiting minors into their ranks, the court of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) has announced.
The FARC, which has since signed a peace accord in 2016, “used the recruitment and use of girls and boys as a politico-military strategy,” Judge Raul Sanchez said. It was not specified how many children were recruited by the ten co-defendants.
Most of them were recruited in the late 1990s, then from 2011 to 2017, when the FARC laid down their arms. The judge cited the case of a 14-year-old indigenous child who was recruited and then executed on suspicion of being an informant.
“War crimes”
Since August 2021, the JEP has been investigating more than 18,600 cases of recruitment of child soldiers during five decades of armed insurgency. The ten co-defendants will also have to answer for the use of anti-personnel mines and the abduction of members of indigenous and peasant communities.
“They are also charged with war crimes, homicide, executions without trial, displacement of people and destruction of the environment,” the court said in a statement.
In January 2021, five senior FARC commanders were indicted for the kidnapping of more than 21,300 people between 1990 and 2016. They have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. Under the 2016 peace accord, the JEP can offer alternatives to imprisonment for people who confess their crimes and provide reparations to victims. The court is expected to hand down its first sentences later this year.
