Talking About Colombia

Twelve years old is the average age of recruitment into the FARC, El Tiempo reported.

Of the 24,303 former member s of armed groups who gave up arms in the last nine years, 13 of every 100 were minors.

In nine years, 2,034 boys and 928 girls former combatants have been helped by the Ministry of Family Welfare.

In the last three years, 27 percent of these girls, boys and adolescents were of indigenous descent.

What grinds me when I read these stats is that most of these children join voluntarily, they even come looking for the FARC themselves, because they think it’s a better life than the domestic abuse they face at home.

Read here about Homero and Leonor, two former FARC combatants whom I met through the Ministry of Family Welfare.