A Colombian senator called on the country’s largest guerrilla group, FARC, to release all of their child soldiers as part of the peace process, reported local media on Tuesday.
Green Party Senator Gilma Jimenez called on the four guarantor countries in the peace process to intervene and raise the issue of children soldiers.
“If the FARC do not return the children recruited, i.e. abducted for war, the [peace] process is illegal, unlawful, unethical and immoral,” said Jimenez.
Norway, Cuba, Venezuela and Chile are acting as guarantors of the peace talks taking place in Havana, Cuba.
Jimenez asked for the talks to include the topic of the return of all minors recruited by the FARC as a “legal and ethical imperative,” telling the Colombian congress, “Do not forget the children in the jungle.”
The FARC have been known to ‘recruit’ — often by abduction — child soldiers, an act considered a war crime under international law. They also reportedly go into schools and bribe children into joining them.
It is not known whether the topic of children soldiers and their release has been discussed.