With an average of seventy-seven murders for every 100,000 people, Colombia leads the world in murder. 6 Most human rights abuses and common crimes, including murder, go uninvestigated and unpunished. Violations against children could be seen as simply symptomatic of the larger problem of violence and impunity in Colombia. In view of this collapse of law and order, it is unusual for Human Rights Watch to focus on a particular group. Yet we believe this focus is merited.
Children face special risks, since they lack the knowledge or skills to defend themselves.
Often, they have been abandoned by their families and the state, which does little to protect them from violence. On paper, they are the country's most protected citizens, while in practice, they are more prone to murder than children in any other country in the world. Official investigations have repeatedly uncovered the link between government forces and the murder of children. The torture of children detained by the police and military continues to be the norm in Colombia. Far from a practice of the past, torture remains a daily, ugly reality for children in detention in Colombia.