HRW said the circulation of social media content by armed groups “glorifies life in armed group ranks” and promotes “deceptive job offers.”
Since 2021, around 1,500 children have been recruited by armed groups, according to the non-governmental organization. HRW said dissident groups that emerged from the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia have been responsible for 74 percent of child recruitment cases documented between 2021 and 2025.
Armed groups use children for combat, handling weapons, drones and explosives, and intelligence gathering, the HRW report said. In some cases, children without combat training are used as “cannon fodder,” it said. Almost half of child recruits are Indigenous children, despite Indigenous people only representing around four percent of the population, according to the report. They project “tough-guy masculinity” and the possibility of earning “easy money,” he said, calling on the state and other NGOs to combat “these lies and create counter-narratives. Meta said it “constantly strives to refine approach to combating” child recruitment efforts across its platforms.
