Violence against girls and boys

Why publish the CVR report on the impact of 20 years of political violence on children in Peru? The answer is simple: no one can doubt that it was precisely poor, rural children who were the most vulnerable population during the years of terror. Reviewing the fear-filled and denial-laden reactions to the CVR's conclusions, it is evident that all visibility is focused on the adults and elderly who tirelessly pursue justice and reparation. Among those adults are the boys and girls who did not die during the internal war but survived marked by a set of violations of their most fundamental rights: 12.8% of victims were under 18 years of age. They suffered: forced recruitment, sexual violence, kidnapping, disappearances, killings or extrajudicial executions, detention, and torture. Of the 69,000 estimated victims identified by the commission, 8,832 were children who were forcibly recruited, raped, kidnapped, disappeared, or killed. In Ayacucho alone, 56.45% of all child disappearances occurred.