Children and Youth: Lessons from the Colombian Truth Commission

Dear friends of CCC,

Last week, Children Change Colombia in alliance with Rodeemos el Dialogo, held several events to disseminate the findings of the Lessons from the Colombian Truth Commission on children and young people.

We had the opportunity to meet with the officers of FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) lead by Liam Golding, Colombia Desk Officer from the Latin America Department, and the All-Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group (PHRG) from Westminster, to advocate for the rights of children and young people in Colombia, share the experience of the Truth Commission and promote the recommendations of the report.

Paola Forero Acosta, who lead the research group that wrote the chapter “No es un mal minor” (It is not a minor evil) reported the following catastrophic figures:

• 64.084 children and adolescents lost their lives due to the conflict (1985-2018).
• 28.192 were disappeared by force (1985-2016).
• 6.496 were kidnapped (1990-2018).
• 3’049.527 were victims of forced displacement (1985-2019).
• 16.238 were recruited (1990-2017).

Karen Arteaga Gazón also shared the experiences of young people in different regions of the country who are part of Generación V+, an initiative that wants to promote the recommendations and findings from the Commission of Truth Report. To learn more about the Commission of Truth please visit their website at:

https://comisiondelaverdad.co/

There were also two public events, one at the LSE Latin America and Caribbean Centre chaired by Professor Jenny Pearce and one at the Consulate of Colombia supported by the Embassy of Colombia. 

We were delighted to see so many people interested in the topic and with initiatives to continue creating pedagogical spaces to promote and discuss children and young people’s rights. To see the pictures of the event please click here.

To read the summary of the chapter please see the link below:

https://childrenchangecolombia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Children-and-youth_-Lessons-from-the-Colombian-Truth-Commission.pdf 

https://childrenchangecolombia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Ninos-Ninas-y-adolescentes-Lecciones-de-la-Comision-de-la-Verdad.pdf 

CCC will continue to advocate for the rights of the children of Colombia, thank you for your support and for making this possible,

Warm regards,

Ángela María Carreño Malaver

Executive Director