FIRST MILESTONE ACHIEVED AS RESULT OF MOU BETWEEN THE DALLAIRE INSTITUTE AND THE REPUBLIC OF COLOMBIA

BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA: The Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace, and Security signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Defense in Colombia to increase the prevention of the recruitment and use of children in armed violence as a central aspect to building sustainable peace in Colombia. Today, trainers from the Dallaire Institute’s Latin American Centre of Excellence begin the first course for members of Colombia’s security forces.

Over the next five days, from May 19-23, 2025, at the El “Cantón Norte” military base in Bogotá, Colombia, 60 students representing various departments within the Colombian military forces and national police will participate in a basic course focused on building the capacity of security sector and defense actors to implement the Vancouver Principles on Peacekeeping and the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of Children.

“This moment represents a pivotal milestone for our country: for the first time, in close collaboration with the Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace, and Security and within the framework of our Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2024, we are consolidating a specialized training program for defense and security sector actors, which will allow us to address this phenomenon with greater technical depth, theoretical criteria, and practical capabilities” stated Vice Minister of Defense, Juliana Coronado Neira in her opening remarks this morning.

Col (R) Luis Viñas, Director of the Latin America Centre of Excellence, highlighted the significance of this pilot basic course for the Dallaire Institute, stating “Our Institute was founded on Lt. General Roméo Dallaire’s firsthand experience during the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsis, where he encountered children used in armed violence and was unprepared for how to respond. Rooted in this experience and guided by the principles of our history, the Institute is the only organization in the world that adopts a dual-lens approach: preventing the recruitment and use of children in armed violence, and supporting security sector and defense actors in addressing the impact and moral injury that can result from confronting children in these settings. At the Institute, we consider learning from the Colombian experience vital for contextualizing our knowledge and experiences with the region’s realities”.

This training, and our holistic approach comes at the perfect time as it aligns with the release of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) report earlier this month, which observes the rise of forced recruitment and use of children in armed conflict. Every 48 hours a child or adolescent is recruited in Colombia; therefore, this symbolizes an important opportunity to build the capacity of security sector and defense actors to prevent the recruitment and use of children in conjunction with our work with key civil society organizations contributing to peace in the region.

The advantage of this course is the ability to integrate the robust Colombian legal framework, context and characteristics with the Dallaire Institute’s 15 years of experience working with security sector and defense actors in building capacity to increase understanding, knowledge and skills to prevent the recruitment and use of children in armed violence.

About the Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security

Since 2007, the Dallaire Institute has sought to influence international decision makers' understanding on how to prevent the recruitment and use of children by armed forces and armed groups. The Dallaire Institute was founded on the premise that preventing violence against children requires a dual lens focused on prioritizing the protection of children, as well as understanding its operational impacts on defense and security sector actors.

About the Vancouver Principles

The Vancouver Principles—endorsed by 107 countries around the world and co-created by the Government of Canada and the Dallaire Institute—are a set of political commitments focused on improving child protection in peacekeeping contexts; specifically, preventing the recruitment and use of children. The Republic of Colombia endorsed the Vancouver Principles in 2017.

For more information and to request interviews, please contact:

Stacey McCarthy

Communications and Public Relations Advisor

+1-902-210-4038

stacey@dallaireinstitute.org

Daniela Gallardo

Research Project Officer

daniela@dallaireinstitute.org