FARC (Columbia)

 

Rebel group name

Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia- People’s Party (FARC-EP)

Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Columbia – Ejercito del Pueblo

 

Background Information

Formed in 1964, FARC evolved out of the Columbian Communist Party with the purpose of replacing the democratic Columbian government with a Communist one. They even received funding from the USSR during the Cold War to help them with their efforts. However as of late, they have strayed away from their pronounced Marxism ideology losing sight of their original purpose. [1]The command structure within FARC is a vertical, centralized structure with the policies and actions determined by the top commanders, not among individual units.[2]

In 1996 FARC officially set their minimum recruitment age of 15.

 

Funding

Originally, FARC gained their funding from methods including extortion, bank robbing, and random kidnappings, but only survived because of the support of rural peasants and their international ideological partners of Russia and China.[3] In the late 1970s, coca became a major Columbian export and FARC quickly took advantage of the shift. Now their success is based on their ability to take coca profits into funding used for community reinvestment programs, military buildup on a large scale, and buying political support in the area. FARC also gathers revenue from kidnapping, extortion, and hijacking, though to a lesser extent.

 

Human Rights Violations

FARC is responsible for a number of civilian killings and summary executions. As part of their training, children enlisteed in FARC are forced to take part in the executions or mutilations of captured enemy soldiers, or deserters. The most common uses of child soldiers include, but unfortunately not limited to, combatants, kidnappers, guards for hostages, human shields, messengers, spies, sexual partners, and ‘mules’ to transport arms and place bombs. 

Sexual Violence: Operating under a ‘sexual freedom’ policy, girls as young as 12 are often pressured into relations with older commanders and are fitted with intra-uterine devices or forced to have contraceptive injections.[4]The girls will strive to have relations with a high ranking officer so that they may receive benefits and protection. There have also been cases of girls forced to have sexual relations with government soldiers in order to get information. Of the estimated 2,500 girl soldiers that experience rape or sexual abuse the majority are within FARC.[5]

 

 

[1] START, 2012

 

[2] Human Rights Watch, 2003

 

[3] Cook, 2001

 

[4] UNHCR, 2001

 

[5] UNHCR, 2008

 

Cook, Thomas R.. 2011. The Financial Arm Of The FARC: A Threat Finance

Perspective. Journal of Strategic Security, 4 (1): 19-36. 

 

Human Rights Watch. (2003). “You'll learn not to cry : Child combatants in Columbia.”

Retrieved from: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/colombia0903/

 

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

(2001). Child soldiers global report 2001. Retrieved from:

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,CSCOAL,,COL,,498806061e,0.html

 

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

(2008). Child soldiers global report 2008. Retrieved from:

http://www.childsoldiersglobalreport.org/content/colombia

 

University of Maryland. (2012). National Consortium for the study of Terrorism and

Response to Terrorism (START): FARC . Retrieved from:

http://www.start.umd.edu/start/data_collections/tops/terrorist_organization_profile.asp?id=218