This time we will talk about a very controversial topic nowadays, the armed children of Guerrero, whose rights, as well as those of the indigenous peoples, are diminished due to the insecurity that prevails in our country.
Recently, a group of thirty armed children between the ages of six and eleven, from the town of Ayahualtempa, joined the communitarian police of the José Joaquín de Herrera municipality in the state of Guerrero.
These children marched through the main streets of their community, in order to demand support for the nine widows of the ten indigenous musicians, massacred in January 2020.
“The Ardillos” group maintains a war over the territory in order to control the transfer of narcotics; due to this, the violence won’t stop in the state of Guerrero. Since 2015, the self-named “Communitarians” groups stormed the territory of Ayahualtempa, leaving hundreds of deaths and forcing several of its residents to move out of their homes. Since these incidents, the rightful owners of these lands are in search of justice; it is presumed they expose the armed children, in order to get the federal government’s attention.
The Political Constitution of the United Mexican States grants indigenous peoples the autonomy to decide on their internal forms of coexistence and social, economic, political, and cultural organization. Indigenous peoples are able to apply their normative systems in the regulation and solution of their internal conflicts, but they are subject to the general principles of the Constitution itself, that is, they cannot have internal procedures or norms that go against the rights recognized in our Magna Carta.
In consideration of the above, regarding the exposure of armed children from Guerrero within a hostile, unsafe environment and the carrying of weapons by minors, our laws stipulate the following: minors do not have the training, do not have the skills, nor aptitude, to understand the context of the seriousness what their actions may imply in the event of an unfortunate situation, so they are contravening the human rights of children enshrined in the fourth article of the Constitution, with the understanding that:
The Mexican State is obliged to watch over and comply with the superior principle of the children’s best interest, fully guaranteeing that their rights are respected.
Boys and girls have the right to satisfy their needs for food, health, education, and healthy recreation for their integral development. The current situation of these children is the opposite of what is stipulated by the law since the federal or state government is not protecting them at all.
In addition to the fact that these rights are protected by the Constitution, the Mexican State is a part of various international treaties that must be obeyed; among them is the Children Rights Convention, which recognizes children as humans under eighteen years of age; keeping in mind that the armed children of Guerrero are between six and eleven years old. This convention protects minors against economic exploitation and prevents children from labor in any dangerous surroundings or that may hinder their education, health, physical, mental, spiritual, moral, or social development.
In this sense, the participating states will adopt legislative, administrative, social, and educational measures to guarantee the welfare of minors.
Additionally, these countries are obliged to protect children against all other forms of exploitation that may be detrimental to any aspect of their well-being. On the other hand, the State has to refrain from recruiting into the armed forces or any similar force any civilian who has not reached the age of fifteen; therefore, it is clearly evident that they are acting against the human rights of children.
Even when the "self-defense" or "communitarian police" cause justifies the incorporation of children into their ranks due to the insecurity that prevails in their state or community, these illegal actions do not contribute to eradicating an insecurity matter; they only place these minors at unnecessary risk, and expose them to death or human trafficking.
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