3 Per capita killings of children in Colombia exceed those in Brazil, where the killing of black street youth has captured world headlines. A significant number of murders of children are the direct responsibility of the state. We also include reports on the murder by armed insurgents or their clients of children in open violation of international humanitarian law. Clearly, adults are also the victims of violations in Colombia. The extra-judicial executions, torture, and examples of impunity in the killings of adults far outnumber those involving children.
Adults are also more often the victims of common crime.
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.