Child Soldiers Global Report 2004 - Panama
| Publisher | Child Soldiers International |
| Publication Date | 2004 |
| Cite as | Child Soldiers International, Child Soldiers Global Report 2004 - Panama, 2004, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4988063828.html [accessed 27 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Republic of Panama
Covers the period from April 2001 to March 2004.
Population: 3.1 million (1.1 million under 18)
Government armed forces: no armed forces
Compulsory recruitment age: not applicable
Voluntary recruitment age: not applicable
Voting age: 18
Optional Protocol: ratified 8 August 2001
Other treaties ratified (see glossary): CRC, GC AP I and II, ICC, ILO 138, ILO 182
Colombian asylum seekers, including children, were forcibly returned to Colombia, where they feared recruitment by paramilitaries and armed opposition groups.
Context
There were increasing fears that the armed conflict in neighbouring Colombia was spreading through the region. Panama received a growing number of Colombian refugees seeking asylum.1 Migration authorities and the police forcibly returned hundreds, including children, to Colombia despite asylum seekers' fears that they would be recruited by paramilitaries and other armed political groups on their return.2 Armed political groups from Colombia often crossed the border and were responsible for the forcible recruitment of asylum seekers and the trafficking of drugs and people.3
UNHCR repeatedly expressed concern about Panama's forcible return to Colombia of asylum seekers, which endangered the lives of those attempting to escape the conflict in Colombia.4
Government
National recruitment legislation and practice
The constitution states that there will be no army but that all Panamanians are required to take up arms to defend national independence and the territorial integrity of the state (Article 305).5 The armed forces were abolished in 1990 and there is no conscription.6 A 1994 constitutional amendment provided for the temporary establishment of special police units that would take action in the event of "external aggression".7
Armed political groups
UNHCR reported that armed political groups from Colombia were recruiting under-18s in border areas of Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela.8 In 2002 UNHCR in Venezuela warned of an increase in the recruitment of children by Colombian armed opposition groups, with dire consequences for the protection of refugees and asylum seekers, in particular children.9
1 UNHCR News, "El ACNUR preocupado por desplazamientos producidos por el ataque en la frontera de Panamá", 24 January 2003, http://www.acnur.org.
2 Email communication to Child Soldiers Coalition from Refugees International, USA, 28 July 2004.
3 UNHCR News, "Paramilitares colombianos atacan pueblo fronterizo en Panamá", 1 March 2003; UNHCR, "Colombia: Aumenta temor por inseguridad en fronteras", Actualidad en las Américas, No. 2, 1 October 2002.
4 UNHCR News, "El ACNUR señala que los colombianos no pueden ser repatriados involuntariamente desde Panamá", 24 April 2003.
5 Constitution, http://www.georgetown.edu/pdba/Constitutions/Panama/panama1994.html.
6 CIA Factbook, http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook.
7 Constitution, op. cit.
8 BBC Mundo, "Grupos armados 'reclutan niños'", 21 May 2002, http://news.bbc.co.uk.
9 UNHCR News, "Colombia: preocupación de ACNUR por el reclutamiento de niños refugiados", 21 May 2002.
