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Violence and Discrimination Against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia

Authored by: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

Categories: Statebuilding
Sub-Categories: Political Transitions, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV)
Country: Colombia
Region: Latin America and the Caribbean
Year: 2006
Citation: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. "Violence and Discrimination Against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia." Thematic Reports, no. 67. Organization of the American States, 2006.

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Executive Summary

Violence and discrimination affect the lives of women during times of peace and degenerate during internal armed conflicts which impact the civil population...the IACHR analyzes the discrimination and violence against women in the context of the Colombian armed conflict and the way in which the circumstances that have historically exposed women to discrimination and subjected them to social stereotypes, an inferior treatment and the civil, political, economic and social consequences of these disadvantages, are exploited and manipulated by the actors of the armed conflict." (ES) "The IACHR stipulates in this report that the physical, psychological and sexual violence exercised by the actors in the armed conflict against women, has the objective of wounding, terrorizing and weakening the enemy to advance in the control of territories and economic resources." (Para 5, Executive Summary) "Besides describing the manifestations of violence directed towards women in the context of the armed conflict, the report of the IACHR addresses the measures adopted by the State to resolve the crimes perpetrated against women and to repair their consequences, as well as to prevent their recurrence. In this respect, the report confirms that State officials at the national and local level interviewed during the visit of the Rapporteur of the Rights of Women, recognize both the existing challenges and that the Colombian State has advanced in the adoption of a legislative and public policy framework, and in the design of State programs destined to protect the rights of women. The IACHR also highlights the efforts destined to gather statistics about crimes perpetrated against women, including the Observatory of Gender Issues, the work of the National Institute of Legal Medicine, the incorporation of gender into the statistics of the Administrative Department of National Statistics and the Social Solidarity Network. Moreover, the Constitutional Court has issued a series of notable court decisions over the last ten years, successfully invoking the recourses of tutela and inconstitucionalidad to protect the civil, political, social, cultural and economic rights of Colombian women.