Abstract:

Colombia is one of the most unequal countries in the world and has alarming poverty figures. Of about 50 million of population, 13 are poor and 8 are in extreme poverty. To this is added the problem of armed conflict, lived for almost 60 years. Only the last decade, the war left 8,208,564 victims. This difficult situation is exacerbated if we look at particular groups, as children and adolescents, whose situation is critical. According to the Unit for Attention and Reparation for Victims of the Conflict, 1,521,623 victims are 18 years old or younger. Of these, only 13,351 initiated attention and reparation processes between 2010 and 2016, due to factors such as: abandonment of armed groups outside the law (1,109), terrorist acts, attacks and/or combats (7,855), threats (88,421), forced disappearance (126), kidnapping (322), torture (108) and crimes against sexual freedom and integrity (1,210). 38.5 percent of Colombian children are poor and have moderate limitations on the exercise of their rights, while 15.6 percent live in extreme poverty and suffer serious deprivation of their rights, especially those proclaimed in the International Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The structural violence that crosses the Colombian territory has penetrated the children physical and symbolically, leaving in the historical memory of the subjects, in their senses, in their practices and in the habits that determine daily life, indelible marks. War and poverty have weakened children's capacity for action and meaning-building, and have directly affected their inclusion and participation in the country's decision-making process.

Nowadays, Colombian society faces an enormous challenge after the signing of Havana Agreements. The way to peace building demands the inclusion of the voices of all actors, including childhood. Peace requires the rupture of adult-centric positions, which emphasize in the consumption and production of goods and services as indicators of quality of life. It is necessary to create, but especially, recognize the processes and spaces forged collectively to generate knowledge, show alternative ways of meaning the world and built political socialization practices which link children and young people to the country's challenges.

This research, therefore, will intend to open the discussion about the rights of children and adolescents in Colombia. Furthermore, it will make visible the experiences of children's participation developed from Civil Society based on respect, solidarity and trust. The two cases of study, the "Little Carnival for the love and life of Ciudad Bolívar" and NATS (Spanish initials for Working Children and Teenagers), will show the importance of direct democracy exercises in which boys and girls assume leading roles and decision power. These alternatives, based on the communitarian and pedagogical approach, redefine the shared meanings about of social and armed conflict and promote peace in the country. In that way, it is possible to strengthen the recognition and respect for differences as a desirable lifestyle, to propitiate the integration of all actors into the reconciliation process that Colombia is facing today, and to make evident the academic and political challenges regarding the acceptance of children and adolescents as subjects of rights.

Keywords:

Childhood, Participation, Post-conflict, Peace Agreement.