The social protection of children and youth in Colombia: interpretive review

Introduction: The rights of social protection policies for children and youth need to be discussed for their strengthening to guarantee universality or to create new forms of that policies. Method: Documentary review supported by content analysis techniques and interpretive analysis of four social protection systems for children and youth: integral social security, family subsidy, social assistance, and the national system of family welfare. For the analysis, theoretical-political references to universal social protection and the doctrine of the protection of the rights of children and young people were considered. Results: The social protection systems analyzed are described in terms of implementation mechanisms, participation of children and youth criteria, financing, and rectory. The life course approach and its universality, institutional appropriation, and participation of children and young people were discussed. Conclusion: The social protection systems analyzed show social protection strategies for children and young people within the framework of the Social Constitutional State, but they are implemented through welfare, compensatory and targeted policies that contrast the perspectives of needs with that of the protection of children’s rights, and provide insufficient support for the principles of equality, participation, and universality.