Colombia’s youth population – those aged 15-24 years – is estimated to be, between 2015 and 2035, the largest that Colombia will likely ever have. But already today, the current economic model is not able to accommodate young people into the labour market. Despite young people’s efforts to make sure that their views are taken into account in policymaking processes, little has happened and much remains to be done. The failure of political systems to respond to the demands of young people presents a significant challenge for many countries, including Colombia.
The aim of this report is to analyse public policies that impact on the lives of youth in Colombia. Young Colombians give high priority to the issues of education, health and participation; therefore, these policy areas are the study’s main focus. The study examines the way in which public policies enable young people to live a decent life – as defined by the Colombian constitution. Considering the disparate outcomes experienced by Afro-Colombian youth, and the significant impact of violence and conflict on the lives of young Colombians, the review gives special attention to the cross-cutting themes minorities and conflict.
Colombia has been affected by an armed conflict for more than 50 years and in this context, children and young people have been recruited as soldiers, affected by landmines, killed extrajudicially as ‘false positives’, used as informers and sex workers within the armed groups or urban gangs, and forcefully displaced. Forced displacement is often because of an attempt to find safety or escape recruitment in their local communities (which also occurred within schools), as well as avoiding domestic violence.
The perceptions of young people in Colombia are often seen through a context of risk, security and prevention. The country faces the enormous challenge of promoting a life with opportunities for education, health and participation for all, while in the middle of an armed conflict that is working towards a post-conflict scenario. Consequently, we are in the transition from perceiving youth as a problem, to recognising them as rights-holders and agents of positive change, entitling them with the capacities and opportunities to live a life with dignity, to build peace, and promote development.
There is a lack of dialogue or strategies to learn from previous experiences. Such dialogue and strategies are needed to create new models that recognise young people as active members of society and rights-holders within the development process.