CCPCJ 2024 — Children & Armed Conflict
How the war on drugs recruits and victimizes children — examining the devastating impact of militarized drug policies on minors across Latin America.
At the 33rd session of the CCPCJ, Ágora organized a side event examining how militarized drug policies create conditions that recruit and victimize children — from forced recruitment by criminal organizations to the criminalization of minors caught in the crossfire of the war on drugs.
The Problem
Across Latin America, children are caught between two forces: criminal organizations that recruit them as expendable foot soldiers, and state security forces that criminalize and incarcerate them. The war on drugs has created a cycle of violence that disproportionately impacts minors, particularly in marginalized communities.
Panelists
Dr. Carolina Villadiego
Child Rights Researcher, ColombiaPresented findings on how armed groups in Colombia exploit children for coca cultivation and drug trafficking, and the failures of DDR programs to adequately address child combatants.
Juan Pablo Gómez
Youth Justice Advocate, MexicoDocumented cases of children criminalized under Mexico's drug laws, highlighting the disproportionate sentencing and lack of rehabilitation programs for minors.
Dr. Lucía Dammert
Security Studies, ChileAnalyzed the structural factors — poverty, lack of education, family disintegration — that make children vulnerable to recruitment by drug trafficking organizations.
Roberto Saviano
Investigative Journalist, ItalyProvided a comparative perspective on how organized crime exploits children in both Latin America and Europe, drawing parallels between the Camorra and Mexican cartels.
Key Findings
Recruitment Pathways
Children enter drug trafficking through multiple pathways: economic necessity, family connections, coercion, and the absence of alternative opportunities in their communities.
State Complicity
In some contexts, state security forces are complicit in child exploitation — either through direct involvement or through failure to protect children in conflict zones.
Criminalization vs. Protection
Many states treat child drug offenders as criminals rather than victims, imposing harsh sentences rather than providing rehabilitation and reintegration support.
Gender Dimensions
Girls face specific risks including sexual exploitation, forced partnerships with cartel members, and use as drug mules — vulnerabilities often invisible in policy discussions.
Recommendations
- Decriminalize Children: No child should be incarcerated for drug offenses — implement restorative justice and rehabilitation programs instead
- Prevention Programs: Invest in education, economic opportunities, and community programs that provide alternatives to criminal recruitment
- Victim Recognition: Recognize children involved in drug trafficking as victims of exploitation, not perpetrators
- DDR for Minors: Develop specialized disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration programs designed for children's specific needs
- Family Support: Address the root causes of child vulnerability through comprehensive family support and poverty reduction programs
Watch the Full Event
Full Event Transcript
We welcome you on behalf of Institute for Disarmament Research, Red por los Derechos de la Infancia en México, World Vision México and Agora International. I want to open the floor with this terrifying figure. According to UNICEF, between 2005 and 2022, 105,000 children were recruited and are serving in armed conflicts, but the true number is probably much higher.
While often referred to as child soldiers, this term doesn't fully capture the broad scope of exploitation and abuse. These boys and girls are used not only as fighters, but they fall into domestic and sexual slavery. Armed forces or groups recruit children for a variety of reasons. Some are abducted, threatened or coerced, while others join due to poverty or the need to support their families.
We are here today to discuss the situation and impact of the recruitment of girls and boys, to explore prevention and integration strategies, and to examine successful public policies.
Sean Molloy (NUACT Fellow, Newcastle Law School)I'm going to be talking about a specific aspect of child soldiers — unique opportunities to help address the difficulties and challenges facing child soldiers, particularly as they transition from conflict. My broad research looks at children and peace agreements.
A peace agreement is a formal document produced by discussion with some or all protagonists in a military conflict with a view to ending that conflict. Peace agreements also look backwards, focusing on accountability for harms that have occurred, but also trying to grapple with why a conflict emerged in the first place.
Why should peace agreements address child soldiers? Firstly, they're useful for agenda setting. Child soldiers is often a hidden problem. Peace agreement provisions can include commitments that child soldiers will be protected and provided for — education, health care, socioeconomic conditions, and participation in truth commissions.
With my research, I've looked at approximately 2,000 peace agreements. You can categorize commitments to child soldiers in four ways: general references to international law; child recruitment and use provisions in ceasefire agreements; DDR provisions; and accountability mechanisms.
However, there are challenges: relatively few peace agreements have addressed child soldiers; there's often little reference to girls or female child soldiers; there's a failure to address child soldiers holistically; commitments are often ambiguous; and there's a lack of involvement or participation of child soldiers in negotiating and implementing peace agreements.
My recommendations: child soldiers must be included in negotiations and implementation as early as possible; peace agreements should be comprehensive and precise; language must be binding; there needs to be differentiation between boys and girls; and DDR provisions must be child-centered.
Faviola Capetillo Hernández (World Vision Mexico)I would like to bring up the background of the Second Optional Protocol on the Rights of Children regarding their involvement in armed conflicts. Mexico ratified this protocol on March 15, 2002, committing to implement its points and actions. However, the reality is different.
One major aspect of public policy involves coordinating the three levels of government to implement the protocol. In Mexico, this goes beyond issues like hired killers to address children's access to small arms. We need mechanisms to identify children who may have been recruited and take measures for their psychological recovery and social reintegration.
Joaquin, 17, told us: "Many children are taken by force to be used, sometimes their parents are paid, sometimes not." Alejandro, 14, from Baja California, mentioned that kidnapping and extortion are the most common forms of child violence in his community. Sonia, 16, from Tamaulipas, shared that many of her friends have disappeared after getting involved with narco boyfriends.
It is crucial to center the participation of children and young people in public policies. José, 12, pointed out that children are often not allowed to express their opinions because they are young. This adult-centered approach must change in policy development.
Francesca Bataut (UNIDIR, Managing Exits from Armed Conflict Project)The Managing Exits from Armed Conflict Project (MiAC) seeks to generate a unique evidence base on individuals' journeys in and out of armed groups. The project is currently rolling out in Iraq, Colombia and the Lake Chad basin.
I will focus on two factors: the impact of armed group proximity and the role of education. In Nigeria, we found that in communities occupied by Boko Haram, children are up to 29 percentage points more likely to join a group than children in communities never occupied.
On education: formal education decreases the likelihood of association with Boko Haram. However, in Nigeria, having formal education led to a 27 percentage point increase in likelihood of joining community security actors. Being in the Almajiri system drastically increased the likelihood of becoming associated with Boko Haram by 22%. It appears that it may be the inherent vulnerability of children in the system that renders them susceptible to recruitment.
Valeria Jeremía (REDIM - Network for Children's Rights in Mexico)In Mexico in 2024, there are no official data on the number of children and adolescents who are victims of recruitment. Estimates range between 30,000 and 300,000. Involvement in organized crime stems from development in marginalized environments, within violent communities and families.
REDIM has been working on this issue for about 10 years. We have been promoting the creation of a National Observatory for the Prevention of Recruitment, convened by the Ministry of Security. Since 2022, we have been promoting two main lines of action.
First, we are pushing for the typification of the crime of recruitment as an autonomous crime, separate from trafficking. It is also important to explicitly recognize recruited children as victims, which would allow them access to aid, assistance, and comprehensive damage repair.
We consider recruitment to always be forced, even when no physical force is used. Often, recruitment occurs through social networks, the internet, deception, or false promises of work or love. Recognizing them as victims is crucial.
Another focus has been addressing the lack of specific public policies for disengagement of recruited adolescents. The disengagement process involves detecting the recruited child, conducting a risk analysis, developing a comprehensive plan, and providing psychosocial and medical care. Working with the family and community is essential to prepare for reintegration.
How would DDR provisions look if they are child-centered?
Sean MolloyVery often you have comprehensive DDR programs focused primarily at the adult level. Children are then added on. A DDR program centered on children must be context-specific, addressing the specific aspects that contributed to children being recruited. Crucially, the voice of child soldiers themselves should inform the DDR program, in order to get a context-specific awareness of the various, multifaceted reasons for recruitment.
Valeria JeremíaIn Mexico, there is no issue of terrorism. They are detained because it is believed they have committed some crime — sale of illegal substances, drug trafficking, homicide, kidnapping, extortion. Many times these adolescents do not declare belonging to a certain criminal group, making it difficult to understand how they joined or if they want to leave.
That's why defining recruitment as a crime is important — to make it easier to hold adults who recruit them accountable and not just the adolescent who was forced to commit a crime. We are focusing on disassociating them from their groups and preparing them for return to society.
Francesca BatautRegarding detention in the Lake Chad Basin — we do interviews with children who have come through transit centers and DDR centers. The purpose of these centers is to accommodate men, women and children who have come out of groups temporarily before being sent back to their communities, allowing for screening, psychosocial support, health care support and food support.
Faviola Capetillo HernándezI would also like to emphasize that the issue has to be more integral in terms of the impact of armed groups and organized crime on the lives of children. We would not call it forced recruitment, but recruitment, because we would be entering into this paradigm of how to differentiate which children may voluntarily join, when the reality is that it is not so voluntary within the same socio-economic conditions. One of the things parents and teachers told us about is the difficulty in reporting cases when it is detected that a child is no longer going to school and is already seen with certain people.
Nelly (Moderator)I appreciate the insights from all our panelists. Thank you and have a great rest of your day.