Rights teams warn that armed teams are more and more recruiting kids to their ranks by means of social media.
Printed On 31 Aug 2026
Three minors had been amongst these killed in a Colombian army air strike on cocaine-trafficking rebels final week, authorities stated, as President Abelardo de la Espriella intensifies operations towards armed teams.
The August 27 bombing within the southern Guaviare division was the deadliest army operation since de la Espriella took workplace earlier this month. The Nationwide Institute of Authorized Medication and Forensic Sciences stated that 10 individuals in complete had been killed within the operation. The Ministry of Nationwide Defence reported that two of the victims had been 15 and one other was 16.
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The victims allegedly belonged to a dissident faction of the defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, that rejected a 2016 peace settlement with the federal government.
De la Espriella, a right-wing chief and ally of United States President Donald Trump, stated on Monday that one other bombing in the identical space killed eight members of a FARC dissident group led by commander Ivan Mordisco. It’s not recognized whether or not any minors had been among the many useless.
“The bandits, who for many years have recruited minors to show them into combatants or human shields, should pay for these crimes that violate Worldwide Humanitarian Regulation,” he wrote on X.
The Defence Ministry stated on Monday that 24 suspected rebels have been killed in army operations since de la Espriella took workplace.
The strikes come as child recruitment by armed teams is once more rising in Colombia, in accordance with a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report revealed final week.
At the least 1,500 kids have been recruited by armed teams since 2021, with 625 circumstances reported in 2024, in accordance with the report.
The watchdog stated that legal and insurgent teams are utilizing social media to recruit kids, together with to hold out more and more harmful duties, reminiscent of working drones loaded with explosives. Additionally they reported that algorithms on platforms together with Meta and TikTok “seem to have actively promoted” content material encouraging kids to affix insurgent teams.
“Armed teams in Colombia are recruiting kids with impunity,” stated Juanita Goebertus, HRW’s Americas director. “Safety methods are failing, and social media platforms have change into a simpler recruiting floor.”
Meta and TikTok instructed HRW that they prohibit content material selling violence and had eliminated accounts flagged by the organisation.
