The use and recruitment of minors by organized crime groups “is a very common practice and we are very worried,” says the Chief of Unicef Childhood Protection in Mexico, Rocío Aznar, so it is urgent to look at “in particular why adolescents are disappearing” in the country.
According to a report by the University of Guadalajara (UdeG), in Jalisco, where the Izaguirre ranch is located, alleged training field of the Jalisco Nueva Generación poster (CJNG), the people between 15 and 19 years occupy the first place in disappearances between January and April 2025, with 122 reports, the most probable cause being the forced recruitment by organized crime.
To this is added that “one of the main causes of death in adolescents in Mexico is homicide,” explains the Specialist in Unicef’s childhood protection, Juan Rodríguez, which could also have a “link” with the criminal groups that recruit and use children and adolescents to fulfill roles that range from messaging to the sicariato.
Therefore, he states, one of UNICEF’s proposals is the typification of the crime of recruitment and use for “the protection of childhoods”, but also because “it is in the line of prevention of organized crime”, which co -opted 30,000 minors, according to network data for the rights of childhood in Mexico (REDIM).
“The (criminal) groups have taken advantage of the conditions or advantages that children would have to recruit. One, are cheaper and, two, the imputable sentences are lower than those of an adult,” Rodriguez details.
To date, UNICEF does not have concrete figures on this childhood involvement at the national level, since, as there is no typification, “access to the number of recruitment and use victims” is difficult.
However, Aznar clarifies that, despite the lack of figures, this problem exists and “is one of the most serious violations of rights (…) These children and adolescents are exposed to the worst forms of violence, they see them, suffer them and sometimes execute them.”
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In that sense, he emphasizes, it is necessary that “the (Mexican) state react” and recognize that “all recruitment and use of a person under 18, who is still in the process of development, is forced.”
Also, because who is being judged is not the recruiter, but “the teenager who has committed a crime because they have used it, have taken advantage of their vulnerability as less (…) the focus and responsibility is in the victim,” he says.
In addition, Rodríguez insists, “boys and girls are not recruited only in order to commit a crime, they are also recruited to fulfill other roles, messaging or chefs. These roles also expose them to levels of violence or risks that do not necessarily fulfill operational activities such as the young host, the one that kidnaps.”
Therefore, Aznar adds, “we continue to urge the Mexican State to adopt a policy beyond a specific or temporary program”, which would be the first integral national policy of prevention and attention to recruitment for a country where there are also more than 127,000 people not located since there is a record in the 1960s.
Mexican childhood and youth that faces armed violence “deserves the opportunity to heal, rebuild their lives and if they have hurt them to be able to repair it in a constructive way,” he concludes.
In response, President Claudia Sheinbaum has offered to develop “all the necessary schemes” to serve youth in Jalisco, after the UdeG report alerted about the forced recruitment of young people in that Mexican state.
With EFE information
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