The long conflict that has bled Colombia for more than 60 years, and which did not end with the Peace Agreement signed with the FARC in 2016, has not only caused tens of thousands of victims. It has also, unfortunately, specialized the opposing sides (official Armed Forces against guerrillas and other criminal armies) in what is known as a zero-sum war (no one wins) and has made Colombian military and police personnel especially attractive to be recruited and participate in other armed conflicts around the world.
The experience accumulated over decades of guerrilla warfare has given international recognition to members of Colombia’s public forces, to the point that in the last eleven years more than 10,000 of them have been recruited abroad through offers ranging from US$2,000 to US$6,000 per month. These are the preliminary estimates of the United Nations Working Group following its recent visit to Colombia. That body issued a warning about the sharp growth of “predatory recruitment” and the massive presence of Colombians in international armed conflicts.
“The proliferation of conflicts around the world has increased demand and, therefore, supply [of fighters]. There is very diversified demand, which Colombians are filling,” said in Bogota, at a press conference, Joana de Deus Pereira, a Portuguese expert on the issue, who cited as examples the wars in the Middle East, Sudan, and the so far frustrated and ongoing invasion of Russia into Ukraine.
For her part, South African Michelle Small, who chairs the UN group and serves as its rapporteur, confirmed that former Colombian military personnel are highly sought after in the global mercenary market. “Following the demobilization processes of the FARC and paramilitaries, Colombia found itself with a large number of people trained for combat entering civilian life. They are of all ages and come from different ethnic backgrounds, including indigenous communities. Many come from economically disadvantaged environments,” said Small.
The presence of the UN group in Bogota, which took place between March 16 and 27, responded to an invitation extended by the National Government on the occasion of the signing of Law 2569, which ratifies the international convention on the use of mercenaries and aims to prohibit the recruitment and financing of this activity. That law had already been approved in December by Congress, and only the signature of President Gustavo Petro was pending for it to enter into force.
Even so, it should be noted that the implementation of that law could face difficulties because the main motivation of recruits is economic. Military and police personnel earn, as mercenaries, salaries that far exceed the low pensions or incomes they receive as retirees.
For that reason, although the UN group praised the Colombian government, it also warned it about shortcomings in state control of the problem: it considers that there is “limited capacity of financial and human resources, along with weak oversight and lack of presence in remote or rural areas,” which hampers the work of the Superintendency of Surveillance and Private Security.
The UN group also warned about the growing predatory or deceptive recruitment carried out by companies that pay much less than they promise, or contracts with false job positions. “This type of recruitment may constitute labor exploitation and human trafficking,” Small warned, and pointed to platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, TikTok, and WhatsApp because “they are common recruitment channels, as they are easily accessible and difficult to track.”
