For information on National Liberation Army (ELN) activities, forcible recruitment and consequences of desertion or refusal to serve, please refer to COL33434.E of 20 December 1999.

COL33434.E and the Human Rights Watch (HRW) report cited in it refer to recruitment of minors mostly taking place in rural areas, particularly in Chapter V, "Little Bells and Little Bees: The Forced Recruitment of Children" (Oct. 1998). Although various reports refer to the ELN and other armed groups in Colombia vowing to end recruitment and use of children, no reports of the practice actually ending could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

Chapter IV of the same HRW report discusses activities of the ELN. Specific references to urban activities and areas of operation of the ELN can be found in COL33574.E of 25 January 2000.

Reports on ELN financing through kidnapping and extortion can be found in COL30414.E of 10 November 1998, COL31951.E of 14 May 1999 and previous Responses cited therein.

The above-cited Responses and Country Reports 1999 describe the main source of financing of the ELN as drug trafficking, extortion and kidnapping.

Various reports indicate that the ELN has experienced serious setbacks, mostly from government and paramilitary forces. However, no references to a decrease in its resort to recruitment, extortion and kidnapping could be found among the sources consulted. One of the most recent reports available states

Colombia's second-largest rebel group, the leftist National Liberation Army (ELN), has claimed its 22 sabotage attacks since July 23 [2000] were designed to protest "North American intervention," a reference to the $1.3 billion U.S. counter-narcotics package for Colombia approved by the U.S. Congress in early July....But the devastating attacks appeared to be aimed more at coercing Colombian President Andres Pastrana to accept ELN demands for creating a rebel sanctuary in north-central Colombia as a prelude to peace talks.

...The 5,000-member ELN has come under powerful attacks this year by right-wing paramilitary units known as self-defense forces, and has been driven out of some of its historical strongholds, Colombian military analysts say. The much larger FARC, with an estimated 15,000-17,000 fighters, has also been encroaching on ELN territory, including the Arauca area, and there have been reports of clashes between the two guerrilla factions, one oil industry official in Arauca said. An unknown number of ELN fighters have defected in recent months, and some have even gone over to the paramilitaries, said a former ELN sympathizer now working for an oil firm as a community liaison in northeastern Colombia (The Miami Herald 11 Sept. 2000).

Between January and June 2000 the ELN was attributed direct responsibility for 318 kidnappings (AFP 10 July 2000). According to government sources, most kidnappings committed in 2000 (those committed by the ELN included) have an extortive purpose (ibid.). ELN kidnappings in the year included the abduction of four children from a school in the city of Cali in early March (AFP 3 April 2000).

In addition to an ongoing campaign against oil pipelines (The Miami Herald 11 Sept. 2000), the ELN has continued a campaign of sabotage to the electricity distribution system of Colombia. A March 2000 article reports that the ELN had destroyed nearly 300 electricity transmission towers over the past 12 months (AFP 27 Mar. 2000).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Agence France Presse (AFP). 10 July 2000. "1,490 personnes enlevées en Colombie entre janvier et juin 2000." (NEXIS)

_____. 3 April 2000. "Thousands of Colombian Children March to Protest Kidnappings." (NEXIS)

_____. 27 March 2000. Jacques Thomet. "Les civils de nouveau en première ligne du conflit." (NEXIS)

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1999. 25 February 2000. United States Department of State, Washington, DC. http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/1999_hrp_report/colombia.html [Accessed 11 Sept. 2000]

Human Rights Watch (HRW), New York. October 1998. War Without Quarter. http://www.hrw.org/reports98/colombia/Colom989-04.htm [Accessed 11 Sept. 2000]

The Miami Herald. Juan O. Tamayo. 11 September 2000. "Rebels' Pipeline Bombs Wreak Havoc in Colombia." (NEXIS)