Who helps me please with the three questions How legitimate is a bombing in areas where there is minors? Analysts speak

A bombardment in Guaviare, carried out by the Military Forces, at a
FARC dissident camp, in which there were allegedly
minors, has the Government on the ropes for the
possibility that in this operation the Right had been violated
Humanitarian International. SEMANA consulted experts in law and
international affairs to explain what happens when there is a
bombing in an operation and there are children at the target.

Wálter Arévalo Ramírez, Professor of International Law at the
Universidad del Rosario and Secretary General of the Academy
Colombian of International Law, comments that “in the context of
internal armed conflicts, the rule of main application for
regulate the use of force, the conduct of hostilities and the
protection of civilians is Protocol II of 1977 in addition to the
Geneva Conventions of 1949 ″.
“This protocol, in its article 4 and others, establishes that the parties in
conflict, that is, the State and an organized armed group, have
the recruitment of minors is prohibited, and they must not involve or
make them participate in hostilities. Additionally, Protocol II
obliges the parties to conduct their hostilities under the principles of
humanity, proportionality, distinction between those who participate in
hostilities and those not, and military necessity ”, adds the expert.

This protocol, in its article 4 and others, establishes that the parties in
conflict, that is, the State and an organized armed group, have
the recruitment of minors is prohibited, and they must not involve or
make them participate in hostilities. Additionally, Protocol II
obliges the parties to conduct their hostilities under the principles of
humanity, proportionality, distinction between those who participate in
hostilities and those not, and military necessity ”, adds the expert.

For this reason, when one of the parties recruits minors, they always
understands that they are forcibly recruited, and protecting them
is always in force, regardless of whether its participation is
apparently voluntary. The legality, then, of the conduct of
hostilities against armed groups that include minors
recruited, it will be analyzed from the degree of participation (in any case,
understood as forced) of the same minors in each case
concrete hostility ”
When minors are in a camp they are victims
of forced recruitment, they are not actively participating in
hostilities (even if members of a group are swelling the line
armed) and by the mere fact of being members of the FARC
lose humanitarian protection at that time, so use
lethal force, such as bombarding them, would violate the principle of
proportionality, necessity, distinction and special protection of
minors, as would be applied to other types of populations that do not
should be involved in hostilities (Ex: no bombing
a FARC camp where there are hostages)

They denounce that in an Army operation in Guaviare they died
minors, what does the institution respond?

Lawyer Óscar Sierra, criminalist and analyst, points out that: “Is it about
of a legitimate target? That is the question to be answered, and without
doubt it, we must say yes. Gentil Duarte, leader of the FARC and
for more than 40 years belonging to this organization
criminal, it is a necessary and valid military objective to neutralize
by the Military Forces. Now, what is questionable is not the
bombing, but the recruitment of minors by the
FARC, to serve as cannon fodder and shield, pretending
elude the actions of the State and thus remain committing crimes from the
jungle

“Let us remember that the recruitment of children under 15 is
prohibited by the Geneva Convention and its protocols
additional, as well as at the level of international humanitarian law.
Even the Treaty of Rome also considers it a war crime ”,
adds Sierra

TAKEN FROM THE MAGAZINE SEMANA
2. Express your opinion regarding each of the positions presented by the text on the
theme
3. What is your opinion about the situation that unfolds in the article?

4. What would you answer to the question How legitimate is a bombing in areas?
where are minors? JUSTIFY YOUR ANSWER