| Total
Child Labour |
NATIONAL
STATISTICS
* A Catholic
Church study conducted in 1999 reported that approximately 2.7 million
children work, including approximately 700,000 children who work
as coca pickers. (US
Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2001,
March 2002)
* For the year
2000, 255604 children between 12-17 years were economically active.
(ILO, Yearbook of Labour Statistics, 2001)
* For the year 2000, the ILO projects that
there will be 250,000 economically active children between the ages
of 10-14, representing 6.02% of this age group. Of these, 119,000
are girls and 131,000 are boys.
(ILO, International Labour Office - Bureau of Statistics, Economically Active Population 1950-2010, STAT Working Paper, ILO 1997)
* 34,511 children between
10-14 years and 471,623 between 15-19 years are economically active. (ILO,
Yearbook of Labour Statistics, 1999)
* The economically active
population between the ages of 12-14 years is 367,796. (ILO-IPEC,
El trabajo infantil en America Latina - CD-ROM, August 1999)
* Child employment
rates are highest in rural areas of the central region where 33% of
children between the ages of 12-13, work and 59% of children between
14-17 work full-time. (Christiaan Grootaert
and Harry Anthony Patrinor, The Policy Analysis of Child Labour: A
Comparative Study, 1999)
* 36,371 children are
economically active. (ILO, Yearbook of Labour
Statistics, 1998)
* National Institute
for Children (PAN) statistics estimate that 17% of children between the
ages of 5-17 are involved in income producing activities, and 25,000 children
work rather than attend school. (US
Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998)
* A 1997 study
by Los Andes University notes that approximately 1.6 million children
between the ages of 12-17 work. (US
Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25
February 2000)
* 6.6% of children
between 10-14 year are working. (ILO,
Child Labour Today, June 1996)
* It was estimated
in 1996 that approximately 1,050,000 children between 12 and 17 years
of age worked, of which 762,000 were boys and 294,000 were girls.
(Ninas, Ninos Y Jovenes Trabajadores
Colombia, 1996)
* The number of
working children between the ages of 12 and 17 is not known with any
certainty. A government Census found that about 800,000 children work,
other analysts have put the figure as high as 3 million, and a recent
Colombian newspaper report put it even high as 4 million. (ICFTU,
No Time to Play, 1996)
*
In big cities, 85% of the child labourers are found in the informal sector.
According to a 1992 data, child labour (14-17 years) in the formal sector
rose to 15.5%. Girls are found more in numbers in the informal sector,
especially domestic/service sector (55%), while 40% of the boys are in
the commercial sector. In the urban areas it is mainly salaried work, 64%
of the children between 12-13 years and 76% between 14-17 years are employed
workers. In the rural areas, family work without remuneration represents
almost half among children and nearly one-fourth among young workers. (ILO-IPEC
Colombia, November 1997)
GENERAL NOTES
AND OBSERVATIONS
* In the informal labour
sector and in rural areas, child labour continues to be a problem, particularly
in agriculture and mining. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* The UN Committee
on the Rights of the Child expressed concern at the high rate of child
labour, particularly in arduous and unhealthy occupations such as
brick-making and mining. (UN Committee
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Consideration of Reports
Submitted by States Parties: Colombia, 1996)
* The rules on minimum
age of employment are below international standards and even then are not
enforced. (UN
CRC, Comments on Colombia, 1995)
|
| Child
Slavery |
NATIONAL STATISTICS
* Child prostitution rings working in sex shops throughout Colombia were
raided in September 1998, freeing 370 minors aged 12-16. The children were
being held in slavery-like conditions, abused and forced into prostitution.
At least 145 of the children where found in Cartegena, a busy sex-tourist
destination.
(CATW
Fact Book, citing "Colombia launches crackdown on child prostitution",
Reuters, 26 September 1998)
GENERAL NOTES AND
OBSERVATIONS
* The government prohibits
forced and bonded labour by children but is unable to enforce this prohibition
effectively. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)
|
| Child
Trafficking |
NATIONAL
STATISTICS
* The National Police
rescued 115 victims in Colombia and abroad from 1999 to 2000. Government
officials with NGO representatives arrange to meet returning victims at
the airport. (US
Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001)
* An international
trafficking network was broken up in Spain and 15 people arrested for allegedly
trafficking dozens of women from the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Columbia,
Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria to Spain, forcing them into prostitution.
(CATW
Fact Book, citing "Spanish Prostitution Ring Busted", AP, 18 April 1998)
GENERAL NOTES AND
OBSERVATIONS
* Colombia is a source
country for trafficked persons, especially women and children, to Asia
(Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong), Western Europe (the Netherlands and
Spain), and the United States. Most victims are young women trafficked
for purposes of sexual exploitation. (US
Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001)
* The Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) issued a report on trafficking
of persons in September, and stated that women and girls from Colombia
are trafficked to North America and Western Europe. There were also reports
of women trafficked to Japan and Spain in increasing numbers, in recent
years. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* Prostitution trade
networks provide Colombian women for the markets in Spain, Britain, Germany,
Belgium and the United States. (CATW
Fact Book, citing Gustavo Capdevila, IPS, 2 April 1997, citing Radhika
Coomaraswamy, UN Special Report on Violence Against Women)
*
The second largest migrant group of women in prostitution in Germany is
from Latin America, mostly from the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Colombia,
Venezuela and Brazil.
(CATW
Fact Book, citing Licia Brussa, "Transnational AIDS Prevention Among Migrant
Prostitutes in Europe", TAMPEP, 1996)
* Foreign women in
'call girl' prostitution in Italy are from Poland, Russia, Colombia and
Argentina and to a lesser extent from Brazil, Hungary, Romania and the
Philippines. (CATW
Fact Book, citing Migrant Information Programme, "Trafficking in Women
for Sexual Exploitation to Italy", IOM, June 1996)
* Two types
of trafficking of Colombian women and girls occur, with one targeting
regional areas and one providing Colombian women and girls for international
'markets'. (ECPAT
International)
|
| Child
Prostitution and
Pornography |
NATIONAL
STATISTICS
* According
to UNICEF, approximately 25,000 children--16, 000 of them between
8 and 12 years of age--are victims of sexual exploitation.
(US
Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2001,
March 2002)
* Estimates
from various NGOs place the number of children who are commercially
sexually exploited in Colombia at between 20,000 and 35,000. Most
of the children are between the ages of 8 and 17, and are involved
in prostitution. (ECPAT,
CSEC Database, http://www.ecpat.net/eng/ecpat_inter/projects/monitoring/online_database/index.asp)
* An estimated
25,000 boys and girls under age 18 work in the sex trade. (US
Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999,
25 February 2000)
* Child prostitution
rings working in sex shops throughout Colombia were raided in September
1998, freeing 370 minors aged 12-16. (CATW
Fact Book, citing "Colombia launches crackdown on child prostitution",
Reuters, 26 September 1998)
* In 1998, 225
children were rescued from several cities throughout the country from
a network that sexually exploited and created pornographic videos
of children. (ECPAT
International)
* Civil disruption
in Colombia was largely behind the reported 500% increase in sexual
exploitation of children between the ages of 8 and 13 in the 7 years
from 1986 to 1993. (June Kane, Sold for Sex, Aren Ashgate Publising Limited Gower House, 1998)
LOCAL STATISTICS
* The ICBF estimates
that in Bogota alone there are over 10,000 girls and nearly 1,000
boys exploited as child prostitutes. (US
Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2001,
March 2002)
* Fundación
RENACER reports that a 1996 study conducted in the city of Cartagena
counted 163 prostituted girls between 13 and 17, and 11 boys of
the same age range involved in homosexual child prostitution. (ECPAT,
CSEC Database citing Fundación RENACER, http://www.ecpat.net/eng/ecpat_inter/projects/monitoring/online_database/index.asp)
* In Pereira,
0.09% of the total population is engaged in prostitution; 31.8%
of these are children. (ECPAT,
CSEC Database, http://www.ecpat.net/eng/ecpat_inter/projects/monitoring/online_database/index.asp)
* In
Bogotá alone, over 300 places where child prostitution occurs
have been identified. These numbers are on the rise.
(ECPAT, CSEC Database,
http://www.ecpat.net/eng/ecpat_inter/projects/monitoring/online_database/index.asp)
* In the heart
of the Colombian capital, 2,959 adolescent girls work as prostitutes,
of which 2,369 are found within the establishments - hostels, bars,
pornshops, the other 590 initiate their contact with the client
on the street. (Jose Steinsleger,
En el reino de Herodes, 1996)
* In 1994, 3,000
minors were in prostitution in Bogota alone. (Human
Rights Watch)
GENERAL NOTES
AND OBSERVATIONS
* Colombia is a source country for trafficked persons, especially
women and children, to Asia (Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong), Western
Europe (the Netherlands and Spain), and the United States. Most
victims are young women trafficked for purposes of sexual exploitation.
(US
Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001)
* Prostitution
trade networks provide Colombian women for the markets in Spain,
Britain, Germany, Belgium and the United States. (CATW
Fact Book, citing Gustavo Capdevila, IPS, 2 April 1997, citing Radhika
Coomaraswamy, UN Special Report on Violence Against Women)
|
| Children
in Crime |
NATIONAL
STATISTICS
* 17% of children
living on streets steal for a living. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)
GENERAL NOTES
AND OBSERVATIONS
* Narco-traffickers
and other groups are known to have used children aged between nine and
15 to carry out assassinations of their political opponents and others.
(EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)
|
| Child
Soldiers |
NATIONAL
STATISTICS
* The National Department
of Statistics estimates that at least 6,000 minors are fighting in the
civil conflict, the number growing as the war escalates. (CSUCS,
Update 5, 30 September 2000)
* The Colombian Institute
for Family Welfare estimates that around 2,000 minors are still active
in Colombia's insurgent organisations, while around 3,000 participate
in right-wing paramilitary groups. Until July 1999, around 4,000 youngsters
finishing high school were doing compulsory military service. (Rädda
Barnen, Childwar database, citing IPS, 11 February 2000)
* The NGO, Citizen's
Mandate for Peace and Freedom estimates that nearly 7,000 minors are
directly involved in the war in Colombia. Of these, 2,000 are said
to be members of the insurgent groups FARC and ELN, while 4,000 serve
in the national army and 1,000 in the right-wing paramilitary groups.
(Rädda
Barnen, Childwar database, citing CSUCS, Use of children as soldiers
in Latin America, May 1999)
* Children have been
widely used by all parties in the conflict in Colombia. According to the
People's Advocate, 20% of all Colombian children directly or indirectly
participate in the armed conflict. (CSUCS,
Americas Report, July 1999, citing the People's Advocate to the Latin American
Conference on Child Soldiers, 5-7 July 1999)
* Many NGOs and institutions
have reported the recruitment of children below the age of 15 years by the
various protagonists in the armed conflict in Colombia. In May 1998, the
armed forces conceded that 7,685 under-18s were serving in the National
Police, 7,551 in the army, 338 in the air forces, and 83 in the navy, a
total of 15,657. Of those, 22% are 15 or 16 years of age. (CSUCS,
Americas Report, July 1999, citing Human Rights Watch, War without Quarter
Colombia and Humanitarian Law, New York, 1998)
*
There could be 9,000-20,000 minors still involved in the various groups
and forces in Colombia. (Rädda
Barnen, Childwar database)
GOVERNMENT
FORCE STATISTICS
*
Before December 2000, approximately 16,000 under-18s were part of the Colombian
armed forces. (CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001, 12 June 2001 citing information
provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the CSC , 2/03/01)
*
Colombia's national security forces, including the Army and National Police,
include over 15,000 children. Thousands of others are recruited for civic
outreach and placed in war zones in uniform, at serious risk of attack.
(HRW, Child Soldiers Used by All Sides in Colombia's Armed Conflict, Stop the Use of Child Soldiers Campaign, New York, 8 October 1998)
*
The army also captures or accepts the surrender of children suspected of
being guerrillas, then uses them as guides or informants. These children
may be forced to patrol with troops, take part in combat, collect intelligence
and deactivate land mines. (HRW, Child Soldiers Used by All Sides in Colombia's Armed Conflict, Stop the Use of Child Soldiers Campaign, New York, 8 October 1998)
* Paramilitary
units, which often operate in direct coordination with national security
forces and are responsible for some of the conflict's worst abuses,
include large numbers of children. Children as young as 8 years of
age have been seen patrolling with paramilitaries, and up to 50% of
some units are made up of children. (Human
Rights Watch, Child Soldiers Used by All Sides in Colombia's Armed
Conflict, New York, 8 October 1998)
* A Human Rights
Watch report dated 8 October 1998 says that some paramilitary units,
recruits thousands of children, while another source says around 2,000
of the fighting force is made up of children. (Rädda
Barnen, Childwar database)
* In May 1996,
22% of all recruits were under 18. In total, 4,756 children under
18 were serving in the Colombian armed forces. (Rädda
Barnen, Childwar database, citing the Defensoría del Pueblo)
*
Colombia's Army Commander has conceded that 4,000 children are serving
in the army. The number may increase, as the army intends to double
its forces. (Rädda
Barnen, Childwar database, citing Reuters)
OPPOSITION
GROUP STATISTICS
* In Colombia,
opposition guerrilla armies and paramilitary forces often linked
to the armed forces continued to maintain at least 5,000 children
in their ranks and used them as soldiers and spies, according to
UNICEF. (HRW,
World Report 2001, citing UNICEF)
* Opposition groups
are estimated to include 4,000 children below the age of 18, with a third
of them estimated to be girls. (CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001, 12 June 2001 citing Radda Barnen,
http://www.rb.se)
* According to the testimony of an Colombian Welfare Institute (ICBF)
specialist, 85% of the members of the guerrilla were children. It is believed
that the UC-ELN is the guerrilla which has the most children within its
ranks. (CSUCS,
Americas Report, July 1999, citing Human Rights Watch)
* In March 1999, it
was estimated that between 1,700 and 2,000 minors fill the ranks of FARC
and the ELN. Similar figures were produced by the NGO Citizen's Mandate
for Peace and Freedom, which estimated that 2,000 children were members
of both guerrilla groups. (CSUCS,
Americas Report, July 1999, citing Rädda Barnen, Children of War Newsletter,
No. 4, 1997)
* According to one estimate around 2,000 children and adolescents under
18 years of age have been enlisted by paramilitary groups such as the United
Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC). (CSUCS,
Americas Report, July 1999, citing "Rights-Colombia: Children of War",
IPS,12 March 1999)
* Up to 30%
of some guerrilla units are made up of children. The number of children
in some militias, considered a training ground for future guerrilla
fighters, is reported to be as high as 85%. Although most of Colombia's
child soldiers are over 15, all sides are recruiting children younger
than 15, in violation of the laws of war. The three sides to the
conflict are guerillas, national security units, and paramilitaries.
(Human
Rights Watch, Child Soldiers Used by All Sides in Colombia's
Armed Conflict, New York, 8 October 1998)
* 15% members of paramilitary
groups are minors. (CSUCS,
Americas Report, July 1999, citing Report of the UNHCHR on the Office in
Colombia, 9 March 1998, citing the Defensoría del Pueblo)
*
One-third of rebel fighters of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed
Forces are under 18. (UNICEF,
State of the World's Children, 1996)
COMBINED
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
*
Children are used for many different tasks, including as combatants, for
kidnapping, guarding hostages, as human shields, messengers, spies, sexual
partners and as "mules" to transport arms and place bombs. (CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001, 12 June 2001 citing Tercer Informe
sobre la Situación de los Derechos Humanos en Colomba, Comisión
Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Organización de los Estados
Americanos, OEA/Ser.L/V/II/102, 26/02/99)
* According to UNICEF's
Colombia office, 80% of the new-armed groups' fronts are made up of women
and children. (CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001, 12 June 2001 citing El Tiempo,
"Me enseñaron a manejar armas en tres días", 4
December 2000)
* Child soldiers are
being "born into" armed groups because their parents are members.
(CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001, 12 June 2001)
* According to the
People's Ombudsman Office, 20% of all Colombian children directly or indirectly
participate in the armed conflict. (CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001, 12 June 2001)
*
Tens of thousands of children are being used as soldiers by all sides to
the bloody conflict underway in Colombia, according to a Human Rights Watch
report. (Human Rights Watch, Child Soldiers
Used by All Sides in Colombia's Armed Conflict, New York, 8 October 1998)
NOTES
ON GOVERNMENT FORCES
*
The Colombian army also reportedly continued to use captured guerrillas
who were children as informants and spies instead of turning them
over promptly to child welfare authorities. (HRW,
World Report 2001)
*
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that the Office in Colombia
learned of cases in which members of the Army had detained children, handed
over or captured from guerrilla groups within their bases, and used them
to obtain information and to patrol with their troops as guides. (CSUCS,
Americas Report, July 1999, citing Report of the UNHCHR on the Office in
Colombia, 16 March 1998)
*
The government has formalised recruiting 15-year-olds. (Rädda Barnen, Children of War Newsletter, No.4, October 1996)
NOTES
ON OPPOSITION GROUPS
*
In June 2000 the FARC reportedly recruited at least 37 youths, including
minors, in the municipality of Puerto Rico in southern Meta department.
(CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001, 12 June 2001)
*
Eight FARC guerrillas, all estimated to be between the ages of 13 and 15,
were killed during a January 2000 attack on the town of El Castillo, Meta
department. (CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001, 12 June 2001 citing US State Department
Report 2000)
* Footage of FARC
child soldiers, in what is believed to be a training video, were aired
on Colombian television in May 2001. The footage shows guerrillas, some
as young as 11 making missiles and digging mass graves for dead guerrillas.
(CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001, 12 June 2001 citing US State Department
Report 2000)
* In May 2000, the
Autodefensas Unidas del Sur del Casanare circulated leaflets in the rural
area of Monterrey (Casanare) calling up young people living in the region
for "compulsory military service". In October 2000, paramilitaries
took away several youths in Puerto Gaitán (Meta) by force for military
training. (CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001, 12 June 2001 citing Report of the
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 8/02/01, op cit)
* In January
2000, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) Commander Manuel
Marulanda told reporters that the FARC would not stop recruiting
soldiers 15 and older. (HRW,
World Report 2001)
*
A FARC commander from Colombia claimed in the Mexican press on 11 October
that many children aged between 12 and 17, dependent on the drug trade
would be left with no alternative under the US-backed 'Plan Colombia' than
to join the guerrilla movement. The FARC has previously promised not to
recruit under 15. (CSUCS, Update 6, 19 October
2000)
*
The FARC reportedly announced in 2000 that all persons between the ages
of 13 and 60 in the despeje zone are liable for military service with the
guerrillas; families fleeing the zone reported that they were asked to
surrender children to the FARC as of their 14th birthday. (CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001, 12 June 2001 citing US State Department
Report 2000)
* The FARC is known
for recruiting children in Venezuela where it conducts some activities.
Parents have reportedly been paid US$600 a month for the recruitment of
their child. (CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001 citing El Nacional, Delgado, Eleonora
"Venezolana desertora de las FARC era espía y experta en explosivos,"
20/10/00)
* In October 2000,
Luz Celeste Gonzalez Aguilar, a 16-year-old Venezuelan national, surrendered
to the Colombian Army after 6 years with the FARC. She confirmed reports
of FARC recruitment of under-18 Venezuelan children. (CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001 citing El Nacional, Delgado, Eleonora
"Venezolana desertora de las FARC era espía y experta en explosivos,"
20/10/00)
* FARC activities
have been reported also in Bolivia, Ecuador and Panama. There are concerns
that the armed group might also recruit children from those countries or
Colombian children displaced to other regions. (CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001, 12 June 2001)
*
The Autodefensas Campesinas de Córdoba y Urubá (ACCU) proposed to the government
and civil society to condemn the involvement of minors in the actions of
war. But the Organisation of American States mentioned in one of its recent
reports that the ACCU in a single day in September 1997 recruited with
offers of money, 50 minors from the Policarpa neighbourhood of Apartadó.
It added that in other cases, the paramilitary groups simply carry off
children by force. (CSUCS,
Americas Report, July 1999, citing Inter-American Commission on Human Rights,
Third report on the situation of human rights in Colombia, 26 February
1999)
* The use of child soldiers
by guerrillas is common and the paramilitary groups also recruited children
into their ranks. The Roman Catholic Church reported that the FARC lured
or forced hundreds of children from the Despeje zone into its ranks. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* The UN Office on Human
Rights based in Colombia recently confirmed that guerrilla groups recruit
children from the age of 12 upwards, either by persuasion or by making threats
against their parents. (CSUCS,
Americas Report, July 1999, citing Report of the UNHCHR on the Office in
Colombia, 16 March 1998)
* No precise figures
for the People's Liberation Army (EPL) are
known, but it was reported that it has minors in its ranks and girls among
them. (CSUCS,
Americas Report, July 1999, citing Rädda Barnen, Childwar database)
* The FARC has stated
that the minimum age of recruitment is 15 years and the EPL has denied
recruiting children under 16, but both groups acknowledged having recruited
children younger than these ages in some cases. (CSUCS,
Americas Report, July 1999, citing Human Rights Watch)
* In an interview,
the Bishop of Ariari, denounced the recruitment of children in the demilitarized
zone by the FARC and claimed that FARC had issued a directive in the zone
by which every boy and girl aged over 13 years was required to join the
group. Those who did not wish to join voluntarily were forcibly recruited.
He claimed that the guerrillas simply went to the houses of peasants and
took the children away "as a type of tax". (CSUCS,
Americas Report, July 1999, citing "Del despeje se pasó al despejo", La
Semana, 19 April 1999)
*
According to one source, "in rural areas, families caught in the cross-fire
often are forced to offer their children to guerrilla units in order to
survive". (CSUCS,
Americas Report, July 1999, citing "Rights-Colombia: Children of War",
IPS, 12 March 1999)
* Large number of children were among the FARC
guerrillas who attacked the Guatape hydroelectric facility on 3 September
1997. The employees of this power plant said that some of the attackers
were as young as 8 years old. (Rädda
Barnen, Childwar database, citing CSUCS, Use of children as soldiers in
Latin America, May 1999)
*
The Human Rights Watch found that child guerrillas are used to collect
intelligence, make and deploy mines, and serve as advance troops in ambush
attacks against paramilitaries, soldiers, and police officers. Those who
manage to escape are considered deserters and may be subjected to on-the-spot
execution. (Human Rights Watch, Child Soldiers
Used by All Sides in Colombia's Armed Conflict, New York, 8 October 1998)
* It has been alleged
that girl soldiers are sexually abused by members of the guerrillas.
(CSUCS,
Americas Report, July 1999, citing US Dept of State)
* Within the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), when a girl is pregnant, she can either
have an abortion or give birth to a baby who is given to peasants for rearing.
On reaching 13 years, the FARC takes the child back for use as a soldier.
(CSUCS,
Americas Report, July 1999, citing U. Siemon-Netto, "Kolumbiens Guerrilla
fängt Nachwuchs in Venezuela", Der Überblick, No. 4, 1998)
* In August 1998, the
Simon Bolivar Guerrilla Co-ordinating Board, which acts as an umbrella for
FARC, ELN and EPL, admitted that 7 to 10% of armed guerrillas were children
between the ages of 13 and 17 years. (CSUCS,
Americas Report, July 1999, citing US Dept of State, Human Rights Report,
1998)
* Colombian guerrillas
call their child soldiers 'little bees' because they sting before the enemy
realizes it's under attack. (Human Rights
Watch, Child Soldiers Used by All Sides in Colombia's Armed Conflict, New
York, 8 October 1998)
*
Children are used for many different tasks, from collecting intelligence
to kidnapping and guarding hostages and are fully armed for carrying out
these actions. A large number of children were among the FARC guerrillas
who attacked the Guatape hydroelectric facility on 3 September 1997. The
employees of this power plant said that some of the attackers were as young
as 8 years old. Moreover, the National Liberation Army (ELN) attempted
to use a 9-year-old child to deliver a bomb to a polling place in Cucuta,
on 26 October 1997, election day. (CSUCS,
Americas Report, July 1999, citing US Dept of State, Human Rights Report,
1997)
* In 1996, up to 30%
of some guerrilla units consisted of children. But sometimes, the percentage
of children in the guerrilla can be much higher. (CSUCS,
Americas Report, July 1999, citing the Defensoría del Pueblo, "El conflicto
armado en Colombia y los menores de edad", Boletín No. 2, Santa Fé de Bogotá,
May 1996)
|
| Domestic
Child Servants |
NATIONAL
STATISTICS
* In Colombia, 20%
of girls between the ages of 10 and 14 work as domestics and the percentage
rises to 32% in rural areas. (ILO-IPEC, Mainstreaming
Gender in IPEC Activities, 1999)
|
Other
Hazardous
Child Labour |
GENERAL NOTES
AND OBSERVATIONS
* Children work in
industries like, agribusiness, coal mining, leather tanning and brick kilns.
(EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)
* The Committee
is concerned at the high rate of child labour, particularly in arduous
and unhealthy occupations such as brick-making and mining. (UN
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Consideration
of Reports Submitted by States Parties: Colombia, 1996)
* Hazardous child
labour, including that in mines, is a matter of the deepest concern. (UN
CRC, Comments on Colombia, 1995)
SPECIFIC
SECTORS
* Commercial Agriculture
- 700,000 children worked as coca pickers. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* Commercial Agriculture
- A 1996 study by the National Human Rights Ombudsman of Child Labour in
Putumayo department found that 22 % of the children between the ages of
5 and 18 were full-time coca-pickers. In another municipality the figures
reached 70 %. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)
* Cut Flower Industry
- Children are commonly employed in the cut-flower industry and are often
exposed to toxic substances during and after the spraying of pesticides.
(EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)
* Leather Tanning - Children
as young as five are employed in the leather industry.
(US
Dept of Labor, Sweat and Toil of Children, 1994)
* Mining and Quarrying
- Coal mining presents the most difficult child labour problem. Many marginal
family-run operations employ their young children as a way to boost production
and income. It is estimated that between 1,200 and 2,000 children are involved.
Younger children carry water and pack coal, while those aged 14 and above
engage in more physically demanding labour such as carrying bags of coal.
(US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* Mining and Quarrying
- A recent study of the use of children in the marginal coal mines in north-western
Colombia shows that children as young as six work with their families in
the mines, carrying water out of the mines, leading the loaded mules and
packing coal into bags. Older children do the heavier work such as drilling.
(EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)
* Mining and
Quarrying - Colombian government estimates put the number of child
miners in the country at around 5,000. However, child welfare organisations
believe this is a gross underestimate. (ABC-CLIO,
Sandy Hobbs et al, Child Labor: A World History Companion, 1999,
citing ICFTU, No Time to Play, 1996)
* Mining and Quarrying
- Children work under hazardous conditions in the coal mines of Colombia.
(US
Dept of Labor, Sweat and Toil of Children, 1994)
* Street Children
- Street children are a major problem in Colombia's cities. Street children
employ desperate strategies to survive, 64 % were working mostly in itinerant
sales, and some 17 % cited 'stealing' as their principal occupation. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)
* Street Children
- In 1988, UNICEF confirmed that in Colombia there were 5,000 street
children. Taking this as benchmark, at present the figure could
be between 15,000-30,000. (Pacto por
la Infancia- Republica de Colombia)
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