Children in Colombia: Discussing the current transitional justice process against the backdrop of the CRC key principles

Abstract

Colombia is widely reckoned as one of the most interesting case studies in the field of transitional justice. The five decades long civil war has resulted in a countless number of victims, disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable sectors of the population, including children. Over the past years the Colombian Government has strived to achieve a twofold aim, on the one hand it has passed laws and regulations to enhance the country’s compliance with human rights standards and on the other hand it has established measures, legal and non, to promote a comprehensive transitional justice process and achieve reconciliation, justice and reparations for the victims of the ongoing armed conflict. Both sets of actions have had an impact also on children. The national laws adopted to strengthen the country’s compliance with the tenets of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and its Optional Protocols, as well as the legislative efforts developed within the transitional justice process, have contributed to build a unique framework that deserves to be duly analysed against the backdrop of two key principles, namely the best interests of the child and children’s right to participate in all the decisions and processes affecting them. The contribution will be divided in three main sections, the first one will provide an overview of the current situation of children in Colombia, the second part will analyse the key CRC principles and the degree to which they have been absorbed in the Colombian national laws; and the third part will critically discuss Colombian framework’s compliance with the international human rights standard embedded in the CRC and present some conclusive remarks.