Colombia’s recent earthquake has created a challenge that extends well beyond rebuilding damaged infrastructure. In areas already shaped by armed violence and limited state reach, the destruction of schools risks removing one of the most important protective spaces available to children, potentially increasing their exposure to recruitment by illegal armed groups.
Education as a Protective Space
The 7.4 magnitude earthquake that struck Colombia on 10 August caused extensive disruption across several departments, with especially serious consequences in Chocó and Valle del Cauca. More than 3,800 educational facilities were damaged, affecting the schooling of over one million students. Nearly 178,000 children attend schools that sustained severe structural damage, making a swift return to normal classes impossible in many communities.
This is not solely an educational emergency. Schools provide routines, adult supervision, peer networks, meals in some cases, and access to psychosocial and protection services. When these institutions close for extended periods, children may spend more time in insecure environments, while families coping with displacement, lost income, and damaged homes face greater pressure. The UN has therefore framed the restoration of education as a protection priority, rather than simply a reconstruction objective.
Pre Existing Risks Deepened by Disaster
The danger is particularly acute because the earthquake struck territories where child recruitment was already a serious concern. Illegal armed groups remain active in parts of Chocó and Valle del Cauca, areas affected by poverty, geographic isolation, and long running conflict. The disaster may intensify vulnerabilities that armed groups have historically exploited, including weak access to education, economic exclusion, and limited institutional presence.
Recent Human Rights Watch research indicates that at least 1,500 children were recruited by armed groups in Colombia between 2021 and 2024, according to official data examined by the organization. It reports that armed groups may approach children through intermediaries, social media, schools, or community settings, often offering money, status, or a sense of belonging. Indigenous children have been disproportionately affected, accounting for nearly half of reported cases despite representing a much smaller share of the national population.
The implications of the earthquake are therefore structural. The loss of a school does not automatically result in recruitment, but it can widen the opportunity for armed actors to target children when other sources of security and support have weakened. In remote communities, where transport disruptions, unstable communications, and damage to public services restrict access to assistance, the gap between immediate humanitarian relief and longer term child protection can become especially consequential.
Recovery Requires More Than Rebuilding
The humanitarian burden is substantial. The UN estimates that 1.2 million people require assistance after the earthquake, while its response plan seeks $148.1 million. Yet only 40 percent of the required funding had been received by late August. The response has reached approximately 72,000 people in 36 municipalities with assistance that includes food, water, health care, shelter, psychosocial support, protection, and education services.
Funding shortages may create difficult choices between urgent life saving assistance and investments that reduce longer term protection risks. However, treating education as a secondary recovery issue could prove costly. Temporary learning spaces, safe transport, teacher support, family assistance, and mechanisms to identify children facing recruitment risks should be considered central components of the emergency response.
Existing Colombian policy frameworks offer a basis for this approach. Colombia has committed to the Safe Schools Declaration and adopted a policy on school risk management and education in emergencies in 2025. Human Rights Watch has argued that implementation should focus more closely on high risk territories, school attendance, early warning systems, and coordination among education, protection, and local authorities.
A Test of Protection and Recovery
The earthquake has exposed how natural disasters can magnify the consequences of pre-existing conflict rather than affect communities equally. Reopening schools safely will matter not only for restoring learning, but also for reinforcing a protective environment around children at a moment of heightened uncertainty.
A durable response will require reconstruction alongside sustained humanitarian funding, local institutional capacity, and protection measures tailored to isolated and conflict affected communities. Colombia’s recovery will be judged not only by repaired buildings, but by whether children can return to safe, inclusive spaces before crisis conditions are exploited further.
