Children victims of trafficking and armed violence on the Venezuelan-Colombian border 

Colombia and Venezuela are 2 countries that share a vast border area and a common history, and which are experiencing successive economic chaos and political conflict.

The Venezuelan crisis has forced many Venezuelans to flee their country for Colombia, itself traumatized by 50 years of armed conflict. 

The peace signed in 2016 between the government and FARC guerrillas is still fragile, and Colombia faces high levels of poverty, illicit trafficking and endemic corruption.

In a context of migratory flows conducive to human trafficking and smuggling, children are sometimes abused or forced to be recruited and exploited by illegal armed groups to become child soldiers.  

This climate of violence and fear makes them very vulnerable, sometimes resulting in severe psychological trauma, interruptions to their studies and the loss of family members and friends.  The Daughters of Charity arrived in Bogotá, Colombia, in 1951, and have never ceased to dedicate themselves to the education and care of people.

In 2011, they joined the “Defender of Life” network to prevent, raise awareness of and combat the violence that seriously affects the lives and rights of children and teenagers in towns and villages. 

"This vast rural area is very difficult to access and survival conditions are very harsh.  High levels of corruption, impunity and official tolerance make access to justice difficult for the vast majority of the population. Education, for the majority of the population, is very deficient and only a minority can access higher education".

 Sister Genoveva Nieto Guerrero

A project dedicated to preventing violence and defending life 

"In both Venezuela and Colombia, internal displacement caused by illegal armed groups means that children live in critical situations of abandonment, poverty, inequality and lack of access to education.

We are particularly mobilized on the subjects of human trafficking and the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents." Sr Genoveva

Thanks to the participation of lay professionals with different backgrounds (journalists, psychologists, social workers, designers, publicists, political scientists and psychotherapists), the network was able to expand to other provinces of the Daughters of Charity: Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, with the aim of sharing the experience and materials created by the network.

This prevention and awareness-raising program was welcomed by 32 institutions throughout the country, representing a total of 5,775 children and teenagers, called upon to be “heroes and heroines defending life”, and 2,650 teachers. 

Implemented within the framework of the educational tools used within the network, the “Adventures of a navigator” project is designed to publish and distribute a travel log dedicated to young people, giving them the means to defend their lives and their rights, and the lives of others.

“Supported by their teachers and parents, they will be sensitized to becoming agents of change in their living environments: family, school, community, virtual world.” Sr Genoveva

The project's direct beneficiaries are 500 children and teenagers living in highly vulnerable, hard-to-reach areas.

Thank you so much for your support of this life-saving prevention and awareness campaign!