Columbia

In a country riddled with armed conflict for over a century, the effects of war on children here have been cited as some of the worst in current times. Battling over land reform and more currently the "drug war", government forces, paramilitary groups and guerilla groups have increasingly taken to using children as soldiers, recruiting children as young as eight years old to fight in these adult conflicts. Even for youth not directly involved in warfare, the dangers of these armed conflicts are pervasive and often unavoidable. Children are the victims of "disappearances" and massacres and are currently dying at a rate of 12 each day as a direct result of violence. Children are forced to live as refugees abroad or are displaced within their own country, and many take to the streets as a means of survival. These children then confront the dangers of hunger, harassment, sexual abuse and forced prostitution, death or even murder. With the current atmosphere of violence and poverty, the majority of children in Colombia go without an education.

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