Children of War. Childhood, child soldiers and agency: A case study of the children on FARC.

Abstract

Seeing children fighting wars is a reality that is hard to grasp for most adults. News reports, activists and humanitarian laws tend to portray child soldiers as innocent and naïve individuals, victims of political interests and agents forcefully placing them in wars and conflict. This research offers an approach that does not label the phenomenon of usage of children in war under a dichotomy perspective of guilty or non-guilty (legal), perpetrator or victim (social sciences), but which instead, focuses on examining to what extent do children under these circumstances express their agency and make decisions for themselves. By looking into the history of children in warfare, and by exploring stories from former child combatants in Colombia, this essay argues that circumstances shape the childrens views and decisions. And making the decision to join armed groups is often a choise children and adults make to imporve conditions in their lives.