Children in Armed Conflict

2. Children in Armed Conflict

3. AMERICAS • 5 Countries and 25 between drug cartels, militias- • guerrillas, separatist groups and anarchic groups • involved • Hot Spots: Colombia, Mexico

4. Latin America Communism Drugs Guerrilla Dictatorships

5. Latin America 1830------ The only standing democracies were Costa Rica, Jamaica, Belize the rest of the countries were under Military Dictatorships at different times or concurrently

6. Military Dictatorships’ Characteristics (1) • Military response to the influence of the Soviet • Union and Cuba • Support from the privilege classes and USA • Persecution of the opposition, especially to the • Socialists and Communists • Military intelligence with high civilian informants • Armed clashes • Human rights violations (two sides)

7. Military Dictatorships’ Characteristics (2) The military and their supporters described as "subversive" to all those people and those acts that violated the values ​​they believed were "moral and spiritual aspects of Western Christian civilization." “Subversive" could be either an intellectual, an artist or a militant Marxist, a rocker for his long hair, a young woman wearing a miniskirt, a divorced couple, a defender of democracy, or a Jew. With such arguments, the regime's repression became increasingly general and indiscriminate.

8. Country Dictator Years (1)

9. Country Dictator Years (2)

10. Country Dictator Years (3)

11. More Dictatorships

12. End of the Spanish Inquisition 1837

13. Argentina(1) Military Dictatorship 1976-83 General Jorge Rafael Videla 8.000 murders of opponents“We had to do it to prevent the transformation of Argentina from a conservative Christian society to a Marxist state” 30.000 AI/GM of May Crimes against humanity: 50 years in prison 4

14. Argentina(2) On the name of God and the values of a Catholic religion to combat communist and terrorism and to adopt the new doctrine of National Security 16 September 1976: hundreds of students kidnapped, tortured and disappeared 7 were publically executive None of them were more than 17 years old 4

15. Argentina(3) Total official account 2.895 people None of them were more than 17 years old 4

16. Argentina (4) Coup the etat “to destroy armed opposition” “It was a civil war between the military and leftwing guerrillas” In 1977, was distributed in schools graphic material to parents with school-age children, titled: How to recognize the Marxist infiltration in schools: words: freedom, capitalism, Latin America, burguosei, social classes The universities were intervened, hundreds of spies were sent in order to detect and stop opponents. Teaching programs were "purged" of all content deemed contrary to culture "Western and Christian."

17. Argentina(5) The Montoneros, the People's Revolutionary Army, The Revolutionary Youth: none older than 17 500 NEW BORN babies ASSESINATED 3 Concentration Camps organised One of them was organised in the installations of the Ford industry in Argentina 4

19. BRAZIL (1) Population: 186.4 million (62.2 million under 18) Armed confrontations between urban-based drug factions kill hundreds of people every year. Children’s involvement in drug-based armed violence was reported in small towns as well as larger urban areas

20. BRAZIL (2) Children as young as seven were reported to be armed and selling drugs in Rio de Janeiro. According to one study an estimated one in five youths was killed within two years of joining a drug gang. Recruitment and use of children by drug factions is comparable to that by forces involved in armed conflict: they targeted particular age groups for recruitment, allocated them specific functions and standing within the command structure, and rewarded them financially.

21. BRAZIL (3) “We have consolidated the main guidelines in various instruments, such as the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the International Labour Organization's Convention No. 182 on the worst forms of child labour, and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Those developments show that we have finished the phase of completing the legal framework required to deal with the issue” Brazilian UN PP to the SC

22. BRAZIL (4) Voluntary Recruitment Age: 17 16 with parental consent

23. Nicaragua (1) The Somoza Dynasty from 1936 to 1979 “Since Nicaraguan people are nothing more than animals, they didn’t need schools. What “oxen” need is hard work, not education”

24. Nicaragua (2) Resistance from 1961- the Civil war from 1974-1979 with the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) with support by KGB and Cuba -- intelligence, arms and general assistance. The FSLN started as a small party throughout most of the 1960s, but Somoza's reacted in such a violent fashion that brought together all kind if people against its dictatorship.

25. Nicaragua (3) The Sandinistas got broad support including its own people, clergy of the Catholic Church, and regional governments (Panama, Mexico, Costa Rica, Cuba and Venezuela) They took power in July 1979

26. Nicaragua (4) Immediately USA organised the Contra War (1979-1990) The Reagan administration orchestrated a secret arms deal with Iran and sent the proceeds to the Contras, a trade later known as the Iran-Contra scandal in the United States

27. Nicaragua (5) Contra war took 50,000 lives, 2 percent of Nicaraguan population. To compare it would be more than 75 times the U.S. death toll in the Vietnam War. Noam Chomsky

28. Nicaragua (6) “And yet, despite astronomical levels of military support, the United States failed to create a viable military force in Nicaragua. That's quite remarkable, if you think about it. No real guerrillas anywhere in the world have ever had resources even remotely like what the United States gave the contras. You could probably start a guerrilla insurgency in mountain regions of the US with comparable funding”. Noam Chomsky

29. Nicaragua (7) In 1986, Nicaragua won a historic case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ)that ordered the United States to pay Nicaragua $12 billion in reparations for violating sovereignty and attacking the country. The U.S. government refused to pay any of part of the $12 billion—a decision that directly went against the passing of a United Nations resolution.

30. Nicaragua (8) Measures taken to reintegrate victims of recruitment in families and schools: Amor program provides care, physical and psychological support in coordination with the Ministry of Health

31. Ecuador (1) Against the worker's movement from Guayaquil On October 17, 1922, the railway workers began a strike and created a list of demands that they presented to the United States company that owned and managed the railroad. GM J.C. Dobbie refused to negotiate and brought in strikebreakers. Groups of artisans: Bakers and their women’s and son’s, carpenters, coffee and cocoa workers (W and S ) Women and children lying on train and trolley’s tracks 4

32. Ecuador (2) Greatest Massacre: 500 people—men &women - 84 children between 8 and 16 years old Police and Military Forces and afluent people shooting from their balconies 4

33. COLOMBIA 4

34. COLOMBIA • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Co_rlX1GtU • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILLfRGgjYXE 4

35. COLOMBIA Conflict that has last more than 50 years Started as a struggle for a socialist resolution Has become an open war where different actors intervene So far, drug trafficking overshadows any other initiative “In the context of the Colombian armed conflict, children and youth are constant victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity” “Coalition Against the Involvement of Boys, Girls and Youth to the Armed Conflict in Colombia” 4

36. COLOMBIA All parties to conflict are responsible for arbitrary killing and maiming of children. • Children also suffer violent deaths as a result of the culture of crime and violence that has evolved in Colombia due to the nexus of armed conflict, illegal drug trafficking and proliferation of small arms. 4

37. UNICEF Seven children are killed violently everyday • An unnamed 8-year-old girl was killed on February 24 in Culebritas, Santander North department, by shots from an armed forces unit: TARGET HER FATHER -paramilitaries • 10-year-old boy was killed after being tricked into riding a bicycle loaded with explosives through a military checkpoint. The explosives may have been activated with a remote control. FARC-EP 4

38. UNICEF 4

39. UNICEF Indigenous Children 4

40. UNICEF 4

41. UNICEF Girls 4

42. Paramilitaries 4

43. Paramilitaries 4

44. Paramilitaries 4

45. Army 4

46. Children Soldiers in Colombia • 2008-2012: • 18.000 children forced to war: paramilitaries, guerrilla, army • 69 % 14 years old or younger • 89% abused or witnessed atrocities 4

47. Children Soldiers main “use” • Installing mines and explosives, killing targeted people • Kidnapping and fighting at the fore front of struggles • New trend: now girls are kidnapped to serve guerrillas or paramilitaries. An increase of 43 % over the last 3 years. Mainly to be subject of sexual servitude

48. Children Soldiers Situation • Illiterates • Under poverty line • installing mines and explosives, killing targeted people • Kidnapping and fighting at the fore front of struggles • New trend: now girls are kidnapped to serve guerrillas or paramilitaries. An increase of 43 % over the last 3 years. Mainly to be subject of sexual servitude

49. Previous Colombian Government Position (1) Acceptance of the problem but doubting the data Minister of Justice: “We believe that the problem is been Exaggerated”! 4

50. Previous Colombian Government Position (2) • President Uribe described agencies working to prevent human rights abuses as “terrorists” and cowards who “hide their political ideas behind human rights.” • Statements were widely condemned by international organizations. • Comments construed as government support for attacks against the organizations that are working to protect the human rights of Colombian children and to alleviate Colombia’s humanitarian crisis 4