Child Soldiers Ratification Campaign

Colombia

The Colombian government has ended the recruitment of under-18s and demobilised those remaining in its armed forces, but continues to enlist students in military schools from age 15. Up to 14,000 girls and boys as young as eight-years-old, however, are fighting with guerrilla and paramilitary groups in Colombia. Children are often recruited forcibly and face harsh punishments, ill-treatment and sexual abuse. Colombia signed the Optional Protocol on 6 September 2000 and supports the "straight-18" principle. The Colombian Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers is campaigning actively on this issue and would benefit from outside support.

Contact details:

HE Mr. Guillelmo Fernandez De Soto
Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores
Calle 10 , n. 5-51
Bogota'
COLOMBIA

cc Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva Fax: 41 22 791 07 87
cc Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, Fax: 212 371 2813

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