Letter to Colombian Government (Writing to Argue) - Assignment Example

The situation is further exacerbated by the displacement of children due to the armed conflict and the forced recruitment of minors by armed groups, such as the FARC (IACH Report). The commission’s conclusion is clearly a clarion call for government action. Unfortunately, the Colombian government’s enactment of the 1989 Minor’s Code facilitates the exploitation of the very children it aims to protect. In Medellin, the Minor’s Code encourages contempt of the law, engenders child assassins, brings children under the control of exploitative bosses, pushes children into guerilla forces, and prevents the reintegration of children into society.

The Minor’s Code’s position that those who are under the age of 18 will not go to jail on committing a crime, only gives carte blanche to children to break the law with impunity. While its provisions may superficially claim to protect the child, the ground-reality is markedly different: the Code, designed to protect kids from adult prisons, actually puts them above the law. It effectively absolves children from taking responsibility for their actions. This makes them effective instruments of crime, as they can easily evade the long arm of the law.

Just as civilians are used as shields in unfair wars, the Minor’s Code is responsible for children being used as shields for crime on the streets of Medellin. There is widespread contempt of the law and crimes are delegated to children. The Code is as good as a license to kill.  As the Minor's Code allows kids under 18 to kill without being held responsible, the streets of Medellin teem with child assassins. Contract killings, which are common here, are largely executed by minors. The client contacts a boss, identifies the victim and pays the contract price.

The boss then executes the contract using child assassins. Capt. Luis Francisco Marino Florez, a homicide detective in Medellin, perceives child assassins to be more dangerous than adult ones. He says, “They're less predictable, and they know they can't be touched.” Minors literally thumb their noses at him. “In the cases of 12- and 13-year-olds, we have kids who we know have murdered 10 to 15 people, but nothing happens to them” (Griswold, New York Times). Secure behind the walls of the Minor’s Code, Medellin’s adolescent sicarios, or assassins, are the gang bosses’ preferred instruments of execution.

The Minor’s Code puts children under the exploitative control of gang bosses, who keep their young charges on a tight leash. The gang leaders of Medellin are often affiliated with the paramilitary forces from whom they receive cash and weapons. The immunity conferred on children by the Minor’s Code makes them ideal as the bosses’ underlings. The bosses hire child assassins and equip them with weapons. The children are provided with drugs, as another way in which the bosses can retain control over them.

They depend on the gang bosses for drugs, approval and money. In the frequent absence of fathers, these children even see the bosses as their role models. They get paid at the bosses’ whim. Once they are caught in this vicious circle, children cannot break out. They have to continue killing, or be killed. As the minor reaches the age of eighteen, which places him outside the protective umbrella of the Minor’