Colombia’s FARC rebels recruited more than 18,000 children: Court

Now-demobilised rebel group subjected child recruits to abuses across 20-year period, transitional justice court finds.

Colombia’s now-demobilised FARC rebels recruited more than 18,000 children into their ranks across a 20-year period, a transitional justice court (JEP) has said, accusing the group of subjecting the children to abuses and treatment that amounts to war crimes. The JEP’s investigation relates to case 07, which concerns the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia’s (FARC) recruitment and use of minors between 1996 and 2016. The tribunal will see 26 former FARC members testify, as Colombia seeks to grapple with the lasting impact of the country’s decades-long civil war between rebel and paramilitary groups and government forces.