MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH THE REPUBLIC OF COLOMBIA
June 3: THE DALLAIRE INSTITUTE FOR CHILDREN, PEACE, AND SECURITY SIGNS MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH THE REPUBLIC OF COLOMBIA
On May 31, the Republic of Colombia, Ministry of National Defense and Dalhousie University, on behalf of the Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security, signed an agreement titled “Building the Capacity to Prevent the Recruitment and Use of Children in Armed Conflict.”
This signing is a significant milestone for the Dallaire Institute’s Latin American Centre of Excellence for Children, Peace and Security, based in Uruguay. It demonstrates the power of a regional approach to the Dallaire Institute’s programmatic work and will serve to further promote the implementation of the Vancouver Principles throughout the Americas as well as to contribute to significant research and lessons on the armed violence context for children.
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 as soldiers. The Republic of Colombia endorsed the Vancouver Principles in 2017.
“Building the global agenda on children, peace, and security requires a deeper understanding of the fragile contexts that threaten the protection of children,” said Dallaire Institute executive director Shelly Whitman. “This MoU with the Republic of Colombia will help us to build critical bridges between parties around the region, and our collective advocacy efforts will demonstrate best practices and policies to prioritize the protection of children for the entire world.”
“Colombia’s defense sector, led by Minister Iván Velásquez Gómez and the Government of President Gustavo Petro, is committed to preventing the recruitment and use of children and youth in all types of armed violence. It is in our interest to contribute to guaranteeing their rights by strengthening the capacity of our security forces, through this partnership with the Dallaire Institute, to protect and prevent the recruitment and use of children,” said Vice Minister Daniela Gómez Rivas. “As an endorser of the Vancouver Prunciples on Peacekeeping and the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers, we also remain committed to working with the Dallaire Institute to continue to implement this set of political commitments.”
Over the past 10 months, the Dallaire Institute has conducted several high-level meetings with the Government of Colombia to create dialogue on the challenges facing children in the country. This was complemented by workshops, research and interviews with organizations, community leaders from all over the country, and youth to understand and learn how to strengthen and create new common approaches to prevent children from their recruitment and use in armed conflict and violence. Critical insights into children, peace and security can be drawn from Colombia's experience with decades of internal armed conflict and violence. This new partnership will enable the Dallaire Institute to share its unique approach to training security sector actors to be positive agents of change, focusing practically on their capacity to prevent the recruitment and exploitation of children.
Partnerships like the one launched last Friday provide the necessary knowledge and support to security sector personnel, policy makers, and communities around the world to implement tangible solutions to better protect children from recruitment and use in violence. The Dallaire Institute is grateful for the investment from Intact Financial Corporation, which has enabled the work in Latin America.
For more information, contact:
Marianela Fuertes, Deputy Director of the Latin American Centre of Excellence
marianela@dallaireinstitute.org
