Politics · Mexico · 5 hrs ago
Mexico’s Senate has no near-term plan to criminalize recruiting children
Mexico’s Senate does not plan to advance a bill this session to make the recruitment of children by organized crime a separate crime.
About 50 proposals have been stalled since 2011, according to experts discussing the issue at a Senate forum.
The children’s rights network Redim estimates that 30,000 minors are recruited each year by criminal groups in Mexico.
They may be used as lookouts, drug growers or distributors, or to carry out killings.
Experts said criminal law alone cannot prevent recruitment and called for early detection, community support and safer online spaces.
They described recruitment as a public problem that harms children and weakens communities, and said children need support and alternatives to the promise of belonging offered by criminal groups.
Mexico’s Senate has no plan to approve a law criminalizing the recruitment of children by organized crime during the current session.
About 30,000 children are recruited by criminal groups each year, according to the Network for Children’s Rights in Mexico.
Experts said criminal law should be paired with prevention, early detection and community intervention.
Experts and lawmakers discussed the issue at a forum on preventing organized crime’s use of children and adolescents.
About 50 legislative initiatives on the issue have remained stalled since 2011.
- Who
- Mexico’s Senate has no near-term plan to act. Child-protection experts and lawmakers discussed the issue.
- What
- The Senate does not plan to approve a reform criminalizing the recruitment of children by organized crime during the current session.
- When
- The current session. The article was published on October 16, 2026.
- Where
- Mexico, at a forum on preventing organized crime’s use of children and adolescents.
- Why
- Not stated.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Legislative initiatives to criminalize child recruitment began accumulating in the Senate.
The Senate had no plan to approve the reform during the session.
El Universal reported on the stalled initiatives and a forum addressing the recruitment of children.
- Annual recruitment
- About 30,000 children, according to the Network for Children’s Rights in Mexico
- Stalled initiatives
- About 50 since 2011
- Proposed reform
- Criminalize the recruitment of children by organized crime
- Forum
- From protection to action: preventing the use of children and adolescents by organized crime
- Session outlook
- No Senate plan to approve the reform during the current session
What people are saying
we consider it a response supported by evidence and oriented toward human rights