Children are used by armed opposition groups as advance troops, and consequently are often killed in combat.
All sides continue to use children to gather intelligence.
The CRC says that children as young as 15 can be recruited into the armed forces and can take part in hostilities. The setting of such a low minimum age has met considerable opposition and has led to calls for the adoption of an Optional Protocol to the CRC to raise the minimum age to 18. Support for such a Protocol most recently came from the Maputo Declaration adopted by African states and the Montevideo Declaration adopted by Latin American and Caribbean States concerning the use of child soldiers. Copy your appeals to the People's Ombudsman. In so doing, they have brutalized a new generation of Colombians.