Education Under Attack 2018 - Colombia

Schools and students in Colombia were directly targeted by non-state armed groups using land mines and bombs, as well as harmed in fighting between government security forces and non-state armed groups. Teachers and other education personnel were reportedly threatened, injured, and killed, and dozens of higher education students and faculty were threatened with violence.

Context

Violence continued in Colombia fifty years after the beginning of the country's internal armed conflict. Conflict dynamics shifted over this time, with fighting driven first by guerrilla groups seeking to install a communist regime that would ensure social justice for the poor, and in subsequent decades by complex dynamics involving multiple armed groups and government security forces aiming to achieve both political and, later, financial gain through the drug trade and other illegal economies. The Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army) (FARC-EP) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) were the largest guerrilla groups to initiate armed activity in the 1960s. They later began fighting directly against state armed forces. Paramilitary groups emerged in the 1980s as a reaction to perceived state weakness in responding to the guerrilla threat; these groups demobilized between 2003 and 2006.^[599]

Peace talks between the Colombian government and the FARC-EP began in 2012 and resulted in several partial agreements, including progressive promises by the FARC-EP to first end the recruitment of children under 17 years and then of those under 18.^[600] A final peace agreement was signed on November 24, 2016.^[601] The Colombian government began informal secret peace talks with the ELN in June 2015, followed by formal talks on February 2017. A bilateral ceasefire was declared on September 5, 2017, and talks remained ongoing at the time of writing.^[602]

The Ejército Popular de Liberación (Popular Liberation Army) (EPL), founded in the 1960s and considered a criminal group by the Colombian government, and post-demobilization groups, including los Rastrojos, las Águilas Negras, and los Urabeños, also known as los Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia (Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia) (AGC), were also involved in political and conflict-related violence, as well as illegal economies, since 2006.^[603] These groups, along with FARC-EP dissident groups who refused to demobilize or to sign on to the final peace agreement, continued to vie for territorial control throughout the 2013-2017 reporting period.^[604]

After the peace agreement with the FARC-EP was signed in 2016, reports of some types of attacks, including those on schools, appeared to decline in number. However, it was not clear whether this was due to a reduction in attacks or changes in reporting. Other types of attacks, such as those affecting higher education, continued at rates similar to those reported in Education under Attack 2014. Post-demobilization groups increasingly affected education, with reports indicating that they recruited more children, threatened and killed more teachers, and carried out more attacks at the higher education level than they had in previous years.

Attacks on schools

Information GCPEA collected from media and NGO reports indicated that explosives damaged or destroyed at least 31 schools, as did explosive remnants of war and land mines, resulting in one reported death of a child, multiple injuries, and the cancellation or indefinite suspension of classes over the course of the reporting period. Some of these explosives were planted by the FARC-EP, while others were planted by unidentified assailants. GCPEA identified fewer attacks on schools beginning in 2016, but this finding may indicate that available information was more limited rather than an actual decline in attacks.

In 2013, the UN reported 26 education-related incidents in the Secretary-General's annual report on children and armed conflict. These included attacks on schools, attacks on teachers, military use of schools, and unspecified others that resulted in damage to schools or suspension of classes.^[605] In addition, the Coalition Against Involvement of Children and Youth in Armed Conflict in Colombia (COALICO), a local NGO, reported that armed groups attacked four schools, affecting more than 60 students.^[606] These cases may have overlapped with those reported by the UN. In one incident in February 2013, explosives were detonated at a boarding school in Balsillas, Caquetá, destroying classrooms and dormitories. The attack was attributed to the FARC-EP.^[607]

UN and local media reports suggested that explosives continued to hit schools during 2014. The UN received reports of 12 cases in which schools were damaged by crossfire, mines, and other explosive devices, half as many as in the previous year.^[608] Local media reports suggested that the FARC-EP intentionally targeted schools in a few cases. For example:

• Two June 2014 news reports by Semana and El Tiempo reported that land mines were found and deactivated before they could explode on the school playground of San Andrés de Pisimbalá, Cauca. The perpetrator was unknown, although the news articles reported that the Colombian Ministry of Education suspected that the FARC-EP was involved.^[609]

• In mid-2014, Human Rights Watch reported that the FARC-EP placed explosives near the entrance to a village school in Tumaco, Nariño, while the military was in the area, resulting in the cancellation of classes for one day while the explosives were deactivated.^[610]

• In October 2014, according to numerous media reports, a land mine placed by the FARC-EP on the only path leading to a school in the village of La Palma, Cauca, was discovered and safely detonated by government security forces.^[611]

The UN reported that 11 schools were damaged in crossfire and by explosive devices in 2015, numbers similar to the previous year.^[612] GCPEA identified four individually reported instances in which non-state armed groups attacked schools:

• In March 2015, the Colombian Armed Forces deactivated explosives in the backyard of a school located in an indigenous reservation in Putumayo. The explosives were attributed to the FARC-EP, 32nd Front.^[613]

• Local media registered one incident on May 6, 2015, when a bomb placed at a school playground in Convención, Norte de Santander, exploded after a soldier stepped on it. Local news sources attributed the attack to the ELN.^[614]

• Media sources reported that a land mine was placed in a schoolyard in Cauca, killing a young student and injuring three others on May 20, 2015. School was suspended after the attack. Local media attributed this attack to the FARC-EP.^[615]

• Local sources reported that the FARC-EP set off a bomb outside a school in Tumaco, Nariño, on June 3, 2015, injuring a young child.^[616]

The UN reported fewer incidents again in 2016, verifying six attacks on schools that year. Schools were affected by crossfire between the armed forces and the ELN, and by explosions of land mines planted by unknown assailants.^[617] In addition, land mines were reportedly planted near many schools and along school routes in Nariño department, a violation of children's right to education. In one case, when the village of Samaniego was surrounded by mines, no one could enter or leave the community and children were unable to attend school for three months.^[618]

GCPEA collected information on five individually reported incidents in 2016, including two involving security forces and non-state armed groups, one by security forces, one by post-demobilization groups, and one by unknown assailants. These attacks may have overlapped with the six incidents reported by the UN. They included the following:

• In February 2016, a school in Antioquia was caught in the middle of a battle between the ELN and the Colombian Armed Forces. Children were forced to find cover under the tables and desks.^[619]

• On March 3, 2016, the AGC and los Rastrojos reportedly exchanged fire in Guaramito, Norte de Santander. During the fighting, one school was used as a shield while children were inside.^[620]

• Newspapers reported that, in July 2016, the army detonated two cylinder-bombs containing 100 kilograms of explosives that had been planted in a ditch outside a school in Morales, Cauca. The bombs had been there for six months, endangering the lives of students as they entered the school. The 150 students at the school were evacuated during the controlled explosion, which shattered some classroom windows. The group responsible for planting the bombs remained unclear.^[621]

• On an unknown date in either August or September 2016, a school in Sardinata, Norte de Santander, was reportedly damaged in crossfire between security forces and an unknown non-state armed group. An explosive device entered the rector's office through the roof and exploded. No one was injured in the incident.^[622]

• On September 4, 2016, there were reports that Colombian Armed forces indiscriminately bombed the Sibariza indigenous community in Arauca department. At least one of the five explosives landed near the local school, causing some damage.^[623] The Colombian Armed Forces reported that the actions were taken to reduce ELN activities in the area.^[624]

At least 4 attacks on schools were reported in 2017.^[625] These included the following:

• Local residents of Carrá, Chocó, told Human Rights Watch that, on February 19, 2017 the Colombian navy and the AGC engaged in a 45-minute gun battle behind the local school.^[626]

• Land mines were placed near a school located in an indigenous community in Chocó in March 2017.^[627]

• Colombian Armed Forces and the EPL carried out military operations on March 27 and 28, 2017, near a school in Sardinata, Norte de Santander.^[628]

• Armed confrontations between post-demobilization groups and the Ejército Revolucionario Popular (ERP) took place near a school in Tumaco and Barbacoas on August 29, 2017. These activities impeded access to the school for several weeks.^[629]

Attacks on school students, teachers, and other education personnel

Between 2013 and 2017, non-state armed groups killed teachers in at least 16 reported cases. However, many more teachers were reportedly threatened with violence, and some left their jobs and communities as a result. Hundreds of students missed school or dropped out due to armed conflict in the areas surrounding their schools. In addition to being planted at schools, land mines, unexploded ordnances, and IEDs were planted along school routes, affecting children's access to education. For instance, COALICO reported that education authorities documented 10 incidents involving land mines that directly and indirectly affected 127 students in Valle del Guamuez, Putumayo department, between January 2014 and December 2016. Some of the students were gravely injured in these attacks.^[630]

Compared to the previous reporting period, the perpetrators during this period were more often found to be post-demobilization groups or unidentified armed groups than the FARC-EP and ELN, both of which implemented a series of ceasefires between 2014 and 2017. GCPEA was unable to include Ministry of Education and teachers' union information on threats to teachers during the current reporting period, so comparisons with similar information from the 2009-2013 period were not possible.

Killings of teachers and mass threats by post-demobilization groups, other non-state armed groups, and unidentified parties placed pressure on Colombia's education system in 2013. According to the UN, unidentified nonstate armed groups reportedly killed five teachers during that year. Other teachers were subject to threats by armed groups in six of Colombia's 32 departments.^[631] For example:

• In Medellin, Antioquia, in February 2013, an anonymous pamphlet was reportedly distributed in the neighborhoods of Bello Horizonte and Villa Flora warning parents against taking children to four specific schools, due to an upcoming war between various post-demobilization groups battling for territorial control. As a result, 4,000 students missed school for a day.^[632]

• Local media source El Tiempo reported that, in July 2013, death threats spread through Sucre department, and that Los Rastrojos, a post-demobilization group, sent four teachers threatening text messages.^[633]

Killings and threats targeting teachers and educational institutions continued to be reported during 2014. The UN reported that unidentified armed groups killed three teachers that year and stated that the FARC-EP, ELN, AGC, and Los Rastrojos had threatened teachers.^[634] Meanwhile, the Medellin prosecutor's office found that 82 teachers in 63 institutions were threatened in the Medellin metropolitan area during 2014.^[635] The prosecutor's office did not identify the perpetrators, and it was not clear how many of these threats were directly linked to the armed conflict.

In 2015, the UN reported that unidentified armed groups killed teachers in two cases, and noted that it had received reports of an unknown number of threats by FARC-EP, ELN, ACG, and Los Rastrojos directed against teachers throughout the year.^[636] In addition, an article in El Colombiano reported that 24 teachers in Ituango, Antioquia, left their posts between June and August 2015 due to death threats in the form of pamphlets or phone calls. Six teachers in the village were also sent a threat in the form of a video phone message telling them to leave Ituango. The news article attributed the threats to the FARC-EP, who had a presence in the area, but it was not confirmed that they were involved. After their teachers left the area, 614 children were unable to attend school. According to government authorities, many of the threats targeted teachers who came to Ituango from other regions, some through a government program that placed highly qualified teachers in poor rural areas.^[637]

The UN continued to receive reports of armed groups, including the ELN and the AGC, threatening teachers in 2016.^[638] GCPEA found infrequent reports of physically violent attacks on education personnel in 2016. For example, a teacher and vice president of a local teachers' union was found shot dead on the banks of a river in Cucuta, Norte de Santander, in early November 2016, according to local news outlets. The teachers' union, Asociación Sindical de Institutores Nortesantandereanos, expressed concern over this representation of the widespread violence that affected their community and demanded that the authorities ensure their safety.^[639]

There were at least four threats or killings of teachers in 2017; the perpetrators and motives were unknown for three of these attacks. Unrelated to the armed conflict, there was also one incident in which police used force to suppress a teacher protest:

• Local media reported that on March 31, 2017, a teacher and member of the teachers' union Asociación de Institutores y Trabajadores de la Educación del Cauca was found shot dead in Sucre, Cauca. The motives and perpetrators of the attack remained unknown.^[640]

• News sources reported that on August 24, 2017, an unidentified assailant entered the office of the director of Javier Londoño School in Medellin, Antioquia, and threatened him with death if he did not leave his position. The motivation for the threat was unknown. This was the third threat made to a teacher in Medellin reported that month.^[641]

• On September 10, 2017, members of a FARC-EP dissident group allegedly kidnapped and killed Ivan Torres Acosta, a physical education teacher and vocational school student, in Miraflores, Guaviare. Media reported that Torres Acosta had recently received threats from the group, which accused him of being an informer for the national armed forces in the area. The same news article said that local residents reported that the FARC-EP dissident group had sent out a message via unknown means saying that anyone who attempted to prevent child and adult recruitment in the area would be killed.^[642]

• On October 19, 2017, indigenous teacher Liliana Astrid Ramirez Martinez was attacked and killed when exiting a taxi on her way to work in Coyaima, Tolima. Several of the teachers from her school had received threats from unknown armed actors in the months prior to the incident.^[643]

• Media sources reported that police used force against teachers who were protesting at the Ministry of Education in Bogota on November 18, 2017.^[644] Teachers had gone on strike earlier in the year to demand reforms, including salary increases, lower student-teacher ratios, and more funding for school maintenance and supplies.^[645]

Military use of schools

The FARC-EP used at least 18 schools for weapons storage, and the ELN and other non-state armed groups used schools as bases. The ELN also stationed troops in front of or near schools, placing students at risk. Compared to trends reported in Education under Attack 2014, reports of military use of schools seemed to decrease gradually after a brief peak in 2014. The reasons for this decline were unclear.

The UN reported at least two cases of military use of schools during 2013:

• In one instance in February 2013, Colombian Armed Forces used a school while fighting against the FARCEP in Putumayo, placing children at risk and leading to the suspension of classes. 646

• In another case, in April 2013, the FARC-EP used a school in Arauca as a shelter and the school was damaged during clashes with armed forces.^[647]

According to the UN, there were 11 reported cases of military use of schools in 2014. In some cases, armed forces were stationed near or in front of schools during class hours, placing schools and children at risk.^[648] In May 2014, the military found 76 empty gas cylinders in a school in Cauca that the FARC-EP had been storing, to have ready for use in combat.^[649]

During 2015, the UN reported five cases of military use of schools, including one by the FARC-EP and four by Colombian Armed Forces, the latter in violation of the Colombian Ministry of National Defense's orders against military use of schools.^[650] The five UN-reported cases may have included the following, which were reported by local authorities and media sources:

• The People's Ombudsman's Office reported the possible use of a school by the armed forces in Caloto, Cauca, in February 2015. According to community members, the military used the school as a defense base during combat with the FARC-EP.^[651]

• Local media released two videos that showed members of the FARC-EP making a list of explosives they were storing in a primary school classroom in Putumayo in July 2014 and June 2015.^[652]

• In June 2015, residents in Guapi, Cauca, told local newspaper El Espectador that members of the military were often present in the local high school and spent the night there.^[653]

The UN verified three cases of military use of schools in 2016, all by unspecified groups.^[654] Human Rights Watch reported credible allegations that both the ELN and the AGC used schools as military bases in Chocó department in August and September 2016.^[655] Reported cases of military use of schools in 2016 included the following:

• Members of the Armed Forces were reported to be stationed 200 meters from a school in Llana Baja, Norte de Santander department, in January 2016. They then occupied the school's canteen in July 2016, until regional authorities intervened and requested that they vacate the premises, which they did. However, they remained in close proximity to the school until at least October 2016.^[656]

• A local NGO reported to Human Rights Watch that, in August 2016, members of the ELN temporarily occupied a school in a Wounaan village in Chocó, and threatened the teacher there, forcing him to flee the village.^[657]

• A teacher in an unidentified Afro-Colombian community in Chocó told Human Rights Watch that in September 2016, while they were fighting with the armed forces, the AGC took shelter in a school while classes were in session. A justice official told Human Rights Watch that this post-demobilization group often used that particular school for military purposes.^[658]

• A UN staff member reported that 100 members of the Colombian Armed Forces occupied a school in Arenas Altas, Antioquia department, on October 18, 2016. They left behind a military vest, a cell phone, and long-range ammunition. After the community gave these materials to the authorities, some army troops allegedly threatened the community.^[659]

There were several reported cases in which armed actors used schools in 2017. COALICO reported the use of two schools by unknown armed actors between January and June 2017.^[660] GCPEA separately gathered three reported cases of military use. It was not clear whether these three overlapped with those reported by COALICO. They included the following:

• During the first two weeks of January, an unidentified non-state armed group occupied a school in San Miguel, Putumayo, and asked for money, according to a UN staff member.^[661]

• In Cucuta, Norte de Santander, the ELN occupied a school on March 22, 2017.^[662]

Child recruitment at, or en route to or from, school

There were anecdotal cases of child recruitment reported at school or along school routes during the reporting period. The FARC-EP pledged to abandon child recruitment in early 2016. However, other groups, including the

ELN and dissident fronts of the FARC-EP, continued to recruit children, with an unspecified number of cases reported in late 2016.^[663] The number of cases was limited to those formally reported in the media, and thus probably understated the real extent of this phenomenon.

There were two reported cases of child recruitment from schools during the 2013-2017 reporting period, compared with at least 12 incidents in the 2009-2013 reporting period.

• Local newspaper Semana reported that the FARC-EP recruited from schools in Cali in June 2013.^[664]

• On May 24, 2015, the FARC-EP kidnapped two students from their school in the indigenous village of Jambaló, Cauca, seemingly to recruit them. One of the students escaped and reported what happened to the local media.^[665]

Sexual violence by armed parties at, or en route to or from, school

CEDAW stated that all armed actors committed rape and other forms of sexual violence against women, girls, and boys.^[666] According to national data obtained by UNICEF, 180 children – the majority of whom were girls – were victims of sexual violence by parties to the conflict between 2013 and March 2016.^[667]

The extent to which any of this violence constituted attacks on education was unclear. However, in 2016 the UN documented a pattern of sexual violence against school girls by post-demobilization groups in Santander department. The nature and exact dates of the violence were not specified, but a former principal and a former police inspector faced trial for facilitating sexual slavery and forced recruitment in relation to the case.^[668] In addition, teachers and other school personnel reported that armed groups perpetrated sexual violence against approximately 50 school girls in Cali in 2016.^[669]

Attacks on higher education

Attacks on higher education included threats to students and professors, IEDs used on campuses, and excessive use of force against students by government security forces. At least five attacks targeted higher education institutions, and at least eight were directed at students or university personnel. Reports of these violations occurred at rates similar to those reported in Education under Attack 2014, fewer than five attacks per year. However, while the FARC-EP perpetrated fewer attacks each year, post-demobilization groups were responsible for an increasing number of attacks at the higher education level.

At least one attack on higher education occurred in 2013, according to local media. On June 14, 2013, the teaching staff of the University of Antioquia went on strike in protest after 15 masked men broke into lecturers' offices, stole equipment, and raised a FARC-EP flag, before addressing approximately 200 students about the peace process taking place at the time.^[670]

There were at least three attacks on higher education in 2014, including two by post-demobilization groups and one by the FARC-EP and ELN. Again, Colombian news sources reported these attacks:

• In March 2014, local media reported that Los Rastrojos distributed a pamphlet that contained death threats against students in Valle University's Francisco Isaias Cifuentes Human Rights Network and accused the students of bringing guerrilla members to campus.^[671]

• In September 2014, also at Valle University, Los Rastrojos sent death threats to university workers' union members, accusing them of being guerrilla members.^[672]

• Local newspaper El Colombiano reported that on December 12, 2014, a group of approximately 10 masked individuals entered the University of Antioquia and hung FARC-EP and ELN flags in visible points around campus. They told students they had brought explosives into the university. Part of the campus was temporarily evacuated.^[673]

After a decline in reported attacks on higher education in 2015, news sources reported slightly more incidents in 2016, although such incidents appeared to remain infrequent. Postdemobilization groups or unknown as- sailants were responsible for these incidents:

• In February 2016, a group of unknown hooded perpetrators detonated IEDs known as "pamphlet bombs" (papas explosivas) at the entrance to the Industrial University of Santander, destroying the turnstiles at the gates.^[674] The group also distributed pamphlets speaking out against the recent naming of a university building after Camilo Torres, a Catholic priest who contributed to the founding of the ELN.^[675]

• In April 2016, Las Águilas Negras reportedly threatened at least five students of the University of Atlántico through phone calls and letters to their homes, declaring them targets because of their involvement with a communist youth group on campus. The group said that they would be killed if they did not leave the university within one week.^[676]

• Unidentified assailants detonated pamphlet bombs at the Industrial University of Santander in two separate incidents in June 2016.^[677] It was not clear whether this incident was related to armed conflict.

At the time of writing, GCPEA had not identified attacks on higher education in 2017.

599 Marla Derks-Normandin, Building Peace in the Midst of Conflict: Improving Security and Finding Durable Solutions to Displacement in Colombia, Brookings Institution, 2014, pp. 2-6.

600 "Dialogue with the FARC-EP"("Mesa de Conversaciones con las FARC-EP"), Government of Colombia. "No Recruitment of Minors: The FARC's New Promise"("No reclutamiento de menores, nuevo compromiso de las Farc"), Fundacion Paz y Reconciliacion, February 12, 2015.

601 "Colombia signs historic peace deal with Farc," Guardian, November 24, 2016. "Colombia's 2012-2016 peace talks-Fact sheet," Colombia Reports, September 25, 2016.

602 Ricardo Monsalve Gaviria, "Peace Dialogues with the ELN Could Be Made Public in 2016" ("Diálogos de paz con el Eln se publicarían en 2016"), El Colombiano, December 27, 2015. "NGOs ask the government and ELN to announce a ceasefire before Pope Francis arrives in Colombia"("Piden al gobierno y al Eln anunciar cese al fuego antes de la llegada del papa Francisco a Colombia"), El Espectador, August 15, 2017.

603 Pablo Medina Uribe, "Beyond the FARC: Colombia's Other Illegal Armed Groups Explained," Americas Society/Council of the Americas, June 1, 2016. Jeremy McDermott, "Colombia's BACRIM: On the Road to Extinction?" Insight Crime, April 9, 2013. "Aguilas Negras," Insight Crime, March 9, 2017. "The Paisas," Insight Crime, March 10, 2017. "Urabeños," Insight Crime, January 30, 2018.

604 International Crisis Group, Colombia's Armed Groups Battle for the Spoils of Peace (Brussels: International Crisis Group, October 2017), pp. 3-10

605 UN General Assembly and Security Council, "Report of the Secretary-General," A/68/878S/2014/339, para. 168.

606 Information provided by COALICO to John Giraldo, November 2013.

607 Information provided by COALICO to John Giraldo, November 2013. "The FARC Destroyed." "The FARC Destroyed a School Dormitory in Balsillas" ("Farc destruyoó dormitorio escolar en Balsillas"), La Nacioó n, February 2, 2013. John Montanño, "Boarding School Destroyed by the FARC Leaves Children from Three villages uncertain" ("Internado destruido por Farc dejoó en el aire a ninños de tres veredas"), El Tiempo, February 4, 2013, as cited in GCPEA, Education under Attack 2014, p. 129. This incident was also confirmed by the Ministry of Education, 18 December 2013.

608 UN General Assembly and Security Council, "Report of the Secretary-General," A/69/926S/2015/409, para. 222.

609 "The FARC Planted Mines in a School in Inza, Cauca"("Las FARC habrían minado una escuela en Inzá, Cauca"), Semana, June 10, 2014.

610 "Colombia: FARC Battering Afro-Colombian Areas," Human Rights Watch news release, July 30, 2014.

611 "FARC Again Plant Mines near a School"("FARC vuelven a plantar minas cerca de una escuela"), Semana, October 10, 2014.

612 UN General Assembly and Security Council, "Report of the Secretary-General," A/70/836– S/2016/360, para. 181.

613 Information shared by a UN respondent via email, January 16, 2018.

614 "Colombia ELN rebels 'displayed soldier's leg as trophy'," BBC, May 8, 2015. Talor Gruenwald, "ELN widely condemned after soldier's amputated leg displayed near high school," Colombia Reports, May 8, 2015.

615 "'When we arrived, she was already dead' says teacher of girl who died after stepping on a mine,"("'Cuando llegamos ... ya estaba muerta', relata maestra de niña que murió tras pisar una mina"), CNN, May 21, 2015. "Child of 7 Years Old Loses Her Life to an Anti-Personnel Mine in Cauca"("Menor de 7 años pierde la vida por mina antipersona en el Cauca"), El Tiempo, May 20, 2015.

616 "The Farc Are Merciless in Tumaco"("Las Farc se ensañaron con Tumaco"), Verdad Abierta, June 26, 2015.

617 UN General Assembly and Security Council, "Report of the Secretary-General," A/72/361S/2017/821, para. 54.

618 Information provided by a confidential source, November 2017.

619 Information shared by a UN respondent via email, January 16, 2018.

620 Information provided by a confidential source, November 2017.

621 "Two Cylinder Bombs Deactivated in Cauca"("Desactivan dos cilindros bomba cerca de un colegio en Cauca"), W Radio, July 28, 2016.

622 Information provided by a confidential source, November 2017.

623 UN General Assembly and Security Council, "Report of the Secretary-General," A/72/361S/2017/821, para. 54. Information provided by a confidential source, November 2017.

624 Information shared by a UN respondentvia email, January 16, 2018.

625 Information shared by a UN respondent via email, December 2017. "Colombia: Armed Groups Oppress Riverside Communities," Human Rights Watch news release, June 7, 2017.

626 "Colombia: Armed Groups Oppress Riverside Communities," Human Rights Watch news release, June 7, 2017.

627 Information shared by a UN respondent, December 2017.

628 Information shared by a UN respondent, December 2017.

629 Information shared by a UN respondent, December 2017.

630 Information provided by a confidential source, November 2017.

631 UN General Assembly and Security Council, "Report of the Secretary-General," A/68/878S/2014/339, para. 168.

632 Early Warning System, "Risk Report 008." Javier Alexander Macias, "Schools in Robledo Evacuated due to Threats" ("Evacuados colegios de Robledo por amenazas"), El Colombiano, February 21, 2013.

633 Luz Victoria Martinez, "Reiterated Threats to Teachers in Coloso, Sucre" ("Reiteran amenazas a docentes en Colosó, Sucre"), El Tiempo, July 23, 2013. Anastasi Gubin and Maria Múnera, "Teachers in Sucre Suspend Classes due to Threats from Criminal Groups" ("Profesores en Sucre suspenden clases por amenazas de bandas criminales"), La Gran Época, July 17, 2013.

634 UN General Assembly and Security Council, "Report of the Secretary-General," A/69/926S/2015/409, para. 222.

635 Medellín Prosecutor's Office, Report on the Human Rights Situation in Medellín (Informe sobre la situación de los derechos humanos en la ciudad de Medellín), 2014, pp. 62, 64.

636 UN General Assembly and Security Council, "Report of the Secretary-General," A/70/836– S/2016/360, para. 181.

637 Martha Arias Sandoval, "Teachers Are Threatened after Ituango Waited for Them for Years" ("Maestros que Ituango esperó años salen amenazados"), El Colombiano, August 22, 2015.

638 UN General Assembly and Security Council, "Report of the Secretary-General," A/72/361-S/2017/821, para. 54.

639 "Man Murdered on the Banks of the Pamplonita River was a Teacher"("Hombre asesinado en la ribera del río Pamplonita era docente"), La Opinion, November 10, 2016. "Teachers in Norte de Santander Demand Safety for Their Profession" ("Docentes en Norte de Santander reclaman seguridad para su oficio"), Caracol, November 10, 2016.

640 "Jairo Chilito, Teacher from ASOINCA, Is Killed in Sucre, Cauca"("Asesinado Jairo Chilito Profesor de ASOINCA en Sucre, Cauca"), Contagio Radio, April 1, 2017.

641 "Claims of threats against director of the Javier Londoño school" ("Denuncian amenazas contra rector del colegio Javiera Londoño"), El Tiempo, August 24, 2017.

642 "FARC dissident group sentences those who oppose coca and recruitment" ("Disidencia de FARC sentencia a quien se oponga a coca y reclutamiento"), El Tiempo, September 15, 2017. "FARC dissident group."

643 "Liliana Astrid Ramirez, teacher and leader in Tolima, is killed" ("Colombia. Asesinan a Liliana Astrid Ramírez, docente y lideresa en Tolima"), Resumen Latinoamericano, October 19, 2017. "Murder of two social leaders reported in Colombia"("Reportan el asesinato de dos lideres sociales en Colombia"), TelesurTV, October 19, 2017.

644 "Education under Attack Monthly News Brief," Insight Insecurity, November 2017, p. 2.

645 Julia Symmes Cobb, "Colombia reaches deal to end 37-day teachers' strike," Reuters, June 16, 2017. Stephen Gill, "60,000 teachers arrive in Colombia's capital to 'occupy' Bogota," Colombia Reports, June 6, 2017.

646 UN General Assembly and Security Council, "Report of the Secretary-General," A/68/878S/2014/339, para. 168.

647 UN General Assembly and Security Council, "Report of the Secretary-General," A/68/878S/2014/339, para. 168.

648 UN General Assembly and Security Council, "Report of the Secretary-General," A/69/926S/2015/409, para. 222.

649 UN General Assembly and Security Council, "Report of the Secretary-General," A/69/926S/2015/409, para. 222.

650 UN General Assembly and Security Council, "Report of the Secretary-General," A/69/926S/2015/409, para. 181.

651 "Warnings of violations of international humanitarian law by combat in Cuaca,"("Advierten violaciones al Derecho Internacional Humanitario por combates en Cauca"), W Radio, February 16, 2017. "What Happened to the Ceasefire? Army and FARC Fight in Caloto, Cauca" ("¿Qué pasó con la tregua? Ejército y FARC se enfrentaron en Caloto, Cauca"), Noticias Caracol, February 17, 2015.

652 "Farc used school in Putumayo to store explosives" ("Farc usaron escuela en Putumayo para almacenar explosivos"), El Tiempo, July 28, 2014. Juan Carlos Monroy Giraldo, "Army Reports that Farc Uses Schools to Hide Explosives" ("Ejército denuncia que Farc usan escuelas para esconder explosivos"), El Colombiano, June 19, 2015. "Have the Farc Used the Same School to Hide Explosives Twice?" ("¿Las Farc usan dos veces la misma escuela para esconder armas?"), El Tiempo, June 19, 2015.

653 Daniel Salgar Antolinez, "Schools in War" ("Escuelas en guerra"), El Espectador, June 17, 2015.

654 UN General Assembly and Security Council, "Report of the Secretary-General," A/72/361S/2017/821, para. 54.

655 "Colombia: Armed Groups."

656 Information provided by a confidential source, November 2017.

657 "Colombia: Armed Groups."

658 "Colombia: Armed Groups."

659 Information shared by a UN respondent via email, December 2017.

660 "Quarterly Statistics Monitoring Bulletin No. 17 January-June 2017"("Boletin Estadistico Semestreal de Monitoreo No. 17 Enero-Junio 2017"), COALICO, June 2017, p. 13.

661 Information shared by a UN respondent via email, December 2017.

662 Information shared by a UN respondent via email, December 2017.

663 UN General Assembly and Security Council, "Report of the Secretary-General," A/72/361S/2017/821, para. 50.

664 "The Challenge of the District of Aguablanca" ("El desafío del distrito de Aguablanca"), Semana, June 8, 2013.

665 "Indigenous People Claim Minors Taken Away by the Guerrilla in Cauca"("Indigenas reclaman menores q se llevó la guerrilla en el Cauca"), Caracol Radio, May 25, 2015. "Warnings of Infractions of IHL by the FARC after Suspension of Their Ceasefire," ("Advierten infracciones al DIH por parte de Farc tras suspensión del cese al fuego"), El Espectador, June 2, 2015.

666 CEDAW, "Concluding observations on the combined seventh and eighth periodic reports of Colombia*," CEDAW/C/COL/CO/7-8, October 29, 2013, para. 17. UN Security Council, "Report of the Secretary-General: Conflict-related sexual violence," S/2014/181, March 13, 2014, para. 18.

667 UNICEF, Childhood in the Time of War: Will the Children of Colombia Know Peace at Last? (Bogota/New York: UNICEF, March 2016), p. 8.

668 UN Security Council, "Report of the Secretary-General," S/2017/249, para. 29.

669 Information provided by a confidential source, November 2017.

670 Paola Morales Escobar, "Professors at the University of Antioquia Will Continue with the Strike" (Docentes de la Universidad de Antioquia continuarán con paro)," El Tiempo, June 19, 2013. "Presence of the Farc in the U of Antioquia Generates Reactions (Presencia de Las Farc en La U de Antioquia Genera Reacciones)," La Vanguardia, June 16, 2013."The Farc Conducted a 'Military Takeover' of the University of Antioquia: Fajardo (Las Farc hicieron una 'toma militar' de la Universidad de Antioquia: Fajardo)," El Colombiano, June 14, 2013.

671 "Criminal Band 'Los Rastrojos' Threatens Students in the University of Valle" ("Banda criminal de 'los rastrojos' amenaza a estudiantes de la Universidad del Valle"), Radio Santa Fe, March 13, 2014. "Students from Valle University Were Threatened by the Paramilitary Group 'Los Rastrojos'" ("Estudiantes de la Universidad del Valle fueron amenazados por el grupo paramilitar 'Los Rastrojos'"), Radio Macondo FM, March 11, 2014.

672 Colombia Ministry of Education, "The University of Valle Pushes Back against Threats to Members of the University Community"("La Universidad del Valle rechaza señalamientos y amenazas a integrantes de la comunidad universitaria"), Ministry of Education News, September 23, 2014. "Threats against Students and Union Members in Univalle" ("Denuncian amenazas contra estudiantes y sindicalistas de Univalle"), El Tiempo, September 24, 2014. "Threats Received by Students Organizing the IV National FEU Congress"("Amenazan a estudiantes que organizan el IV Congreso Nacional de la FEU"), Radio Macondo FM, September 22, 2014.

673 "Hooded Men Hoist FARC and ELN Flags in the University of Antioquia" ("Encapuchados exponen banderas de Farcy Eln en la Universidad de Antioquia"), El Colombiano, December 12, 2014.

674 A potato bomb is an IED in which a potato is hollowed out and filled with explosive materials to be launched by hand. Potato bombs can be powerful enough to cause serious injuries and damage.

675 "Potato Bombs Were Detonated in the Industrial University of Santander"("Detonaron papas bomba en la Universidad Industria de Santander"), W Radio, February 17, 2016.

676 German Corcho Trochez, "Protection Is Activated for Professors and Students from Uniatlantico Who Were Threatened"("Activan protección para profesores y estudiantes de Uniatlántico amenazados"), El Heraldo, April 4, 2016.

677 "Director of the UIS Confirmed Existence of a Person Injured by a 'Potato Bomb'"("Rector de la UIS confirmó existencia de un herido por 'papa bomba'"), La Vanguardia, June 2, 2016. "Hooded Men and 'Potato Bombs' Return to the UIS"("Encapuchados y 'papas bomba' volvieron a la UIS"), La Vanguardia, June 10, 2016.