Child Recruitment as a Response to Armed Group Desertions

The recruitment of children by armed groups has become a normalized practice in civil conflicts globally. The motivations leading children to join armed groups, and encouraging these groups to recruit children are intricate and multifaceted. This investigation focuses on one of these factors, exploring the possible effect that a high incidence of desertions may have on armed groups’ child recruitment practices. Through the use of an OLS regression, negative binomial regression, fixed effects model, and negative binomial panel data model, child recruitment by armed groups in Colombia is examined. Colombia is a representative case of child recruitment, and there is a formidable supply of data on all aspects of its civil conflict provided by government agencies. Overall, the results of the investigation show that the incidence of desertion is associated with an increase in the levels of child recruitment by armed groups. Even when controlling for the incidence of poverty, the proliferation of weapons, and the presence of children, the incidence of desertion is positively associated with the number of child recruitments. These results therefore call for government institutions to improve measures for the protection of children in territories where they may be the most vulnerable to abduction and persuasion, along with DDR programs.