Recruitment of Children as Fighters in Armed Conflict, FARC Movement, People's Army in Colombia:A Case Study

This study deals with the phenomenon of recruiting children as fighters by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army "FARC" in the Colombian conflict, and examining the methods adopted by this movement to promote the phenomenon under study and its effects, and to verify the validity of the hypothesis and answer the questions of the study, the case study methodology was used. The study shows that the failure of the state is one of the main determinants that contributed to the emergence of the FARC movement, which appeared at the beginning to support the rural people and fill the power vacuum and then exploit this vacuum to achieve its agenda by using child soldiers. The study discusses illegal recruitment practices that exposed young boys and girls to the dangers of fighting, sexual assault, and other forms of abusive, brutal, and degrading treatment, bearing in mind that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the People's Army, continued to recruit children, including minors under the age of eighteen, voluntarily or compulsorily, despite the issuance of some laws and national agreements that prevent this. Following the peace agreement signed in 2016 and the end of the FARC movement and its transformation into a political party, the Colombian government imposed a national action plan in addition to other accountability measures aimed at preventing recruitment and sexual violence against children in the country. However, the problem did not end with the signing of the peace agreement, as there are challenges, like post-recruitment, rehabilitation, and reintegration programs for children who were under the control of the "FARC", whose impact is still rooted to this day and which the study discusses.