Four proposals to protect children from organized crime recruitment

The Universidad Iberoamericana Programa de Seguridad Ciudadana released a study titled Reclutamiento de niñas, niños y adolescentes por el crimen organizado. The report states that criminal organizations must recruit between 350 and 370 people every week to replace those lost to homicides, arrests, and incarcerations.

The study notes that minors are a particularly vulnerable group for this recruitment. Mexico lacks an official registry to track how many children are recruited, so the report suggests developing mechanisms to document cases and investigate how recruitment occurs.

The Church proposes actions to prevent recruitment, protect those at risk, and offer alternatives to those already incorporated into these organizations. These efforts are intended to supplement security actions and arrests.