On the road to child protection

Claudia*, like many children in Colombia, lived and suffered the rigors of the armed conflict. When she was only 4 years old, she and her family were forced to move from their land: Apartado, one of the municipalities in northern Antioquia most affected by the war. 

Forced displacement took them to Medio San Juan, in Chocó, on Colombia’s Pacific coast. That was 29 years ago, and few memories of that moment remain, but it was an event that marked her life forever, so much so that today she participates in social organizations of and for the victims of the conflict. 

She divides her daily life between her work in the municipality, her job as a “escobita”, as people who collect garbage are called, and her children: Jefry* and Yuly*, 10 and 8 years old respectively.  

Claudia, Jefry and Yuly are part of the project Joining Forces – Child Protection in Emergencies. 

From the first moment she heard about the project, she was interested in the subject and got involved immediately. She assures that her participation during these months has meant an important change in her relationship with her children, as she learned and recognized new ways of parenting, how to establish an affective bond based on love and respect, and how to build a protective environment for Jefry and Yuly to grow up safely. 

“I improved communication with my children. We are in an environment where perhaps because of the teachings of our ancestors, the way we address our children was not very appropriate and that generated family conflicts.”, Claudia affirms. 

Chocó joined forces for the protection of children 

The department of Chocó has suffered the rigors of the internal armed conflict and its population has been confronted with various violations of rights, which is why families welcomed the project and joined forces to protect their children and adolescents.  

In this regard Claudia states: “we are trying to generate protection in the area of armed conflict, taking into account that Chocó historically is one of the departments where war has set more precedent and the idea is that our children can strengthen their knowledge and avoid falling into the networks of this type of people who only harm society”, She refers to recruitment by armed groups, sexual abuse, teenage pregnancy, use of psychoactive substances and the use of alcohol, to which children and adolescents are exposed in that area of Colombia and which “has affected our environment too much”, she concludes. 

She continues: “In this program, children and adolescents learn to know themselves, to know the environment, to know the referral pathways in case their rights are violated; they have knowledge about their rights and duties and how they, even as children, are also an important part of the municipality, of the environment in which we live. And they learn about self-care as the main tool for protection and that in turn we must take care of the people around us”. 

And she concludes: “All human beings at some point in life have failures, but knowledge and enrichment of our skills allows us to build a different country, allows us to help our children and adolescents to have a better quality of life”. 

*Name changed for protection.