“YOU’LL LEARN NOT TO CRY” Child Combatants in Colombia HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH New York • Washington • London • Brussels Copyright © September 2003 by Human Rights Watch All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America ISBN 1564322882 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2003109212 Addresses for Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor, New York, NY 10118-3299 Tel: (212) 290-4700, Fax: (212) 736-1300, E-mail: [email protected] 1630 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 500, Washington, DC 20009 Tel: (202) 612-4321, Fax: (202) 612-4333, E-mail: [email protected] 33 Islington High Street, N1 9LH London, UK Tel: (171) 713-1995, Fax: (171) 713-1800, E-mail: [email protected] 15 Rue Van Campenhout, 1000 Brussels, Belgium Tel: (2) 732-2009, Fax: (2) 732-0471, E-mail:[email protected] Web Site Address: http://www.hrw.org Listserv address: To subscribe to the list, send an e-mail message to [email protected] with “subscribe hrw-news” in the body of the message (leave the subject line blank). 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Jonathan Fanton is the chair of the board. viii HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH The regional directors of Human Rights Watch are Peter Takirambudde, Africa; José Miguel Vivanco, Americas; Brad Adams, Asia; Elizabeth Anderson, Europe and Central Asia; and Hanny Megally, Middle East and North Africa. The thematic division directors are Steve Goose, arms; Lois Whitman, chil- dren’s; and LaShawn Jefferson, women’s rights. The members of the board of directors are Jonathan Fanton, chair; Khaled Abou El Fadl, Lisa Anderson, Lloyd Axworthy, David M. Brown, William Carmichael, Jorge Castañeda, Dorothy Cullman, Edith Everett, Michael E. Gellert, Vartan Gregorian, Alice H. Henkin, James F. Hoge, Stephen L. Kass, Marina Pinto Kaufman, Bruce Klatsky, Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, Josh Mail- man, Yolanda T. Moses, Samuel K. Murumba, Jane Olson, Peter Osnos, Kath- leen Peratis, Bruce Rabb, Sigrid Rausing, Orville Schell, Sid Sheinberg, Gary G. Sick, Domna Stanton, John J. Studzinski, Shibley Telhami, Maureen White and Maya Wiley. Robert L. Bernstein is the founding chair of Human Rights Watch. CONTENTS Acknowledgments xiii Map xiv Glossary xv 1. SUMMARY 3 2. RECOMMENDATIONS 13 To the Guerrillas and Paramilitary Groups 13 To the Government of Colombia 15 To the Government of the United States 17 To the European Union 17 To the United Nations 18 3. CHILD COMBATANTS IN COLOMBIA 19 The FARC-EP 23 The UC-ELN 25 Paramilitary Forces 26 4. RECRUITMENT: RULES AND PRACTICE 29 The FARC-EP 29 The UC-ELN 31 Paramilitary Forces 33 5. JOINING UP 35 Joining the FARC-EP 36 Joining the Paramilitaries 41 Forced Recruitment 42 6. LIFE IN THE RANKS 47 Daily Routine in the Guerrilla Forces 47 x Contents Contact with Family 48 Rest and Recreation 50 Religion 51 Life in Paramilitary Camps 52 7. GIRLS 53 Recruitment 55 Daily Life 55 Sexual Harassment and Abuse 56 Birth Control and Abortion 58 8. TRAINING 61 Training in the Guerrilla Forces 61 Paramilitary Training 63 Gas Cylinder Bombs 65 Landmines 66 9. DISCIPLINE AND PUNISHMENT 68 Discipline in the FARC-EP camps 68 War Councils 70 Other Executions 73 Discipline in the UC-ELN 74 Discipline in the AUC 75 10. COMBAT 79 Combat in the FARC-EP 79 Operation Berlin 81 Paramilitaries in Combat 86 11. PARTICIPATION IN SUMMARY EXECUTIONS AND TORTURE 88 Killing to Order: Summary Executions in the FARC-EP and the UC-ELN 89 Street Corner Justice: Killings in the Militias 92 Torture in the FARC-EP 94 Paid Killers: Paramilitary Children 95 12. KIDNAPPINGS 99 Contents xi 13. THE GOVERNMENT FORCES 102 14. DESERTION, CAPTURE, AND AFTER 105 Treatment at Capture 107 15. RESCUED FROM WAR: GOVERNMENT REHABILITATION PROGRAMS FOR CHILD COMBATANTS 111 The Legal Framework of Government Assistance Programs 114 16. LEGAL STANDARDS 117 International Humanitarian Law 117 Human Rights Law 118 Notes 123 Appendix: Log of Human Rights Watch Interviews of Former Child Combatants 143 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS his report was written by Sebastian Brett, senior researcher in the TAmericas Division of Human Rights Watch. Joanne Mariner, deputy director of the Americas Division, contributed research, wrote the chapter on girls, and edited the manuscript. Further assistance was provided by members of Human Rights Watch’s Children’s Rights Division,particularly Jo Becker and Michael Bochenek; by James Ross, senior legal advisor at Human Rights Watch; and by Deputy Program Director Joseph Saunders. Robin Kirk, senior researcher in the Americas Division, edited the final report. Anne Manuel, for- mer deputy director of the Americas Division, provided editorial assistance. José Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the Americas Division, supervised the research, writing, and production of the report. Americas Division Associ- ates Marijke Conklin and Jon Balcom produced the report. Ximena Casas tran- scribed hours of tape recordings and assisted with the editing of interviews and production. Human Rights Watch thanks the Overbrook Foundation for its support of our work on Colombia. We would also like to thank the Oak Foundation and the Independence Foundation for their support of our children’s rights work. The research, writing, production, and translation into Spanish of this report was made possible by the generous support of the Andean Region and South- ern Cone Office of the Ford Foundation. Juan Luis Guillen provided the Spanish translation of this report, also avail- able through Human Rights Watch. The staff of the Colombian Family Welfare Institute provided every assis- tance to Human Rights Watch in the research for this report, and granted us full access to their facilities. Finally, we thank all the former combatants who not only patiently shared their time and experiences with us, but took the trouble to put us at our ease. GLOSSARY ACC Casanare Self-Defense Group ACCU Peasant Self-Defense Groups of Córdoba and Uraba AUC United Self-Defense Groups of Colombia BCB Bolívar Central Block bacán, bacano slang for cool CODA Operative Committee for the Abandonment of Arms CRC Convention on the Rights of the Child FARC-EP Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army ICBF Colombian Family Welfare Institute ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross paracos slang for paramilitaries pelados children, kids quiebrapatas foot-breaker land mines UC-ELN Camilist Union-Army of National Liberation UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund “YOU’LL LEARN NOT TO CRY”: CHILD COMBATANTS IN COLOMBIA A fourteen-year-old member of the AUC in Medellin in 2002. © MARCELO SALINAS 1 SUMMARY I escaped one day during the day. I had left all my weapons behind. I was on guard duty and I snuck away. They caught me after an hour. The militia recognized me, even though I had changed into civilian clothes. I cried when they caught me. I begged them to let me go. They chained me up with a metal chain. I couldn’t move my arms. At the war council, I wasn’t allowed to talk. But luckily, they voted not to kill me. Instead, they made me dig twenty meters of trenches, make twenty trips to get wood, and ordered me tied to a pole for two weeks. I had to give a talk in front of everyone explaining why I had tried to desert, why I had made this mistake. driana the reluctant child guerrilla who told us this story, was lucky. A The guerrilla war council chose not to order her execution.