A/HRC/7/39 page 32 36. On 14 August, a local candidate for mayor in Betulia, Antioquia, was kidnapped by members of FARC-EP. In La Playa Norte de Santander, a candidate for mayor was kidnapped on 5 July, by persons allegedly belonging to ELN. E. Forced displacement 37. On 24 February, 375 members of the indigenous Pastos and Awá groups took refuge in Ecuador, due to the murder of the president of the indigenous reservation of San Juan de Mayasquer, and as a result of death threats against several teachers by FARC-EP. 38. On 24 March, in El Charco, Nariño, a total of 4,876 persons were displaced due to combat between FARC-EP and the Colombian Marines. 39. In Arauca, a clash between FARC-EP and ELN forced a number of mass displacements, such as those reported in January and April in Fortul and Arauquita. 40. On 16 May there were reports of forced displacement of 40 families from the rural area of Istmina, Chocó, due to clashes between FARC-EP and an illegal armed group which calls itself “Rondas Campesinas Populares” (popular peasant “rounds”, or civil defence groups). 41. On 25 May, 40 families, 24 of them from the indigenous Awá communities, were displaced to the town of Valle del Guamuez, Putumayo, as a result of the killing of a young man allegedly committed by members of Counter-Guerrilla Battalion 87. F. Child victims of the armed conflict 42. The office in Colombia was informed of several cases of recruitment, particularly by FARC-EP in the Departments of Putumayo, Cauca, Caldas and Nariño, and by ELN in Bolivar and Norte de Santander. In Cartagena, Bolivar, there were reports of the recruitment of boys and girls by unidentified armed groups. 43. Several cases were recorded of child victims of anti-personnel mines. On 22 September, in the Nulpe Medio Alto Reservation in Nariño, three children from the indigenous Awá group died when they stepped on anti-personnel mines planted by FARC-EP. 44. The office in Colombia received a complaint about the use of a boy of 11 as a guide by members of the Nueva Granada Battalion in a military operation in southern Bolivar; another case reported the use of boys and girls as informers for the Marines and the National Police. G. Women victims of armed conflict 45. On 26 June, a woman was the victim of a rape by FARC-EP guerrillas, in retaliation for having refused to cooperate with the illegal group. 46. There was a case of sexual violence on 27 July, in El Carmen de Bolivar, Bolivar, against a woman suffering from mental disability, attributed to seven soldiers of the Army.