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PART III — COUNTRY PROFILeSsupplies, according to Watchlist on Children andArmed Conflict. 562Child recruitment from schoolsThe Early Warning System of the Ombudsman’s Officeidentified the FARC, ELN, El Ejército PopularRevolucionario Antiterrorista de Colombia (ERPAC), 563Los Paisas, Los Urabeños, Águilas Negras and LosRastrojos as groups recruiting children during thereporting period. 564 According to the UN, some of thisrecruitment took place in schools. 565 The 2012Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict reportconfirmed guerrilla and paramilitary successor groupsused schools for recruitment. 566According to the UN, a teacher in Chocó intervened inthe attempted recruitment of two teenage boys onschool grounds by the ELN guerrilla group in April2010. Both the teacher and the students then fled,fearing retaliation. 567 In 2012, the Ombudsmanreported that in Vichada Department FARC membersapproached two students of the Escuela SantaTeresita del Tuparro on their way to school to obtaininformation about the school for recruitingpurposes. 568The national Ombudsman reported that both the FARCand paramilitary successor groups were using schoolsto indoctrinate students as a first step towardsrecruitment. 569 Rural boarding schools were particularlytargeted for recruitment purposes by armedgroups because of their isolation. For instance,recruitment was carried out by suspected guerrillas ineducation centres and boarding schools in rural VistaHermosa and Puerto Rico municipalities. Otherboarding schools were targeted by paramilitarysuccessor groups. 570 In 2012, a teacher in Putumayowas arrested for teaching FARC ideology to children atschool, including making them sing the FARCanthem. 571 In Vista Hermosa, Meta, during the week of12-18 March 2012, guerrillas believed to be part ofFARC’s 27 th Front called meetings with students atseveral rural schools in the area, offering them snacksfor their attendance, and appeared to attempt toindoctrinate them. 572 According to the CoalitionAgainst Involvement of Children and Youth in ArmedConflict (COALICO), other cases of recruitment activitiesby armed groups in schools were reported in thedepartments of Antioquia, Arauca, Bolívar, Caldas,Cauca, Chocó, Nariño, Norte de Santander, Putumayo,Sucre and Valle del Cauca. 573 According to the nationalOmbudsman, also in 2012, in Tierradentro,Cauca, young children and teenagers were used insurveillance and intelligence work for Águilas Negras,as well as to recruit other children by offering bribes ineducational institutions. 574COALICO reported that paramilitary successor groupswaited outside schools to talk to children, find outinformation, and recruit and control them. 575 COALICOalso reported that armed groups used school studentsto run their drug business inside schools which inmany cases led to children being recruited by thegroup. Boys and girls were also used as spies or totransport arms or pass on messages to other studentsin schools. 576Attacks on higher educationParamilitary successor groups and guerrillasthreatened students and student and universityleaders as they sought to exert influence overuniversity campuses.Attacks on higher education facilitiesAccording to media reports, in May 2010, 50-60 armedpersons in ELN uniforms entered the central square ofthe Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá, andmade a political speech. 577Attacks on higher education students, academicsand personnelFour university students were murdered betweenMarch and May 2009, according to a report by the UK’sNational Union of Students (NUS), University andCollege Union (UCU), and Justice for Colombia. 578 Thevictims included Enrique Sierra, a student of ethniceducation of the University of La Guajira who wasactive in the Association of Colombian UniversityStudents. He was shot in the head by motorcyclistswhile he made his way to university on 9 March2009. 579 NUS, UCU and Justice for Colombia reportedthree additional cases between March and May2009. 580Also in March 2009, 30 student leaders from theUniversity of Antioquia were threatened in an email128

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