Illegal armed groups have increasingly recruited children in Colombia in recent years, Human Rights Watch said Monday, citing poverty, social exclusion, lack of education and growing social media use.
At least 1,500 minors have been forcibly recruited or lured into illegal armed groups since 2021, according to data from Colombia's Ombudsman's Office analyzed by the rights watchdog.
The vast majority were recruited by dissident factions of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the report said.
"Armed groups in Colombia are recruiting children and adolescents with impunity; protection systems are failing; and social media platforms have become fertile ground for recruitment," said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch.
The report said armed groups use deceptive job offers and content glorifying combatant lifestyles to recruit minors. They also contact children directly through public chat forums and private messaging applications.
Human Rights Watch said social media platforms are failing to detect and remove recruitment material.
Meta said in statements included in the report that it "constantly strives to refine" its protocols against child recruitment.
ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, said it "proactively prevents illegal armed groups and organized criminal groups from using" its platform.
Both companies have policies banning violent organizations, according to the report.
Most documented cases occurred in southwestern Colombia, particularly in the department of Cauca, where Indigenous communities were heavily targeted, the watchdog said.
Children ages 10 to 14 accounted for a significant portion of documented cases, a practice Human Rights Watch said "could be considered a war crime under international law."
The investigation said armed groups primarily use minors for frontline combat, intelligence gathering and operating tactical drones.
Nearly half of the victims documented were Indigenous, while girls represented about 40% of cases, according to the watchdog. The report said girls faced heightened risks of sexual violence and abuse.
Human Rights Watch said guerrilla networks and drug trafficking cartels have systematically exploited impoverished minors throughout Colombia's six-decade internal conflict, while social media platforms have accelerated recruitment.
