VIOLENCE AND DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN IN THE ARMED
CONFLICT IN COLOMBIA

 

III.      MANIFESTATIONS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AGGRAVATED BY THE ARMED CONFLICT

 

47.       The investigations conducted show that 43 out of every 100 women affected by the internal armed conflict have been victims of different forms of violence based on their gender.[43]  The Rapporteur ascertained during her visit to Colombia that violence against women is employed as a strategy of war by the actors of the armed conflict in their struggle to control territories and the communities they inhabit. 

 

48.       On the basis of firsthand observations and the testimonies received, the Rapporteur has identified four main manifestations of violence that especially affect women within the armed conflict.  First, the actors in the armed conflict employ different forms of physical, psychological and sexual violence to “wound the enemy” by dehumanizing the victim, injuring her family circle and/or spreading terror in her community, with the objective of advancing in their control of territories and resources.  In this kind of violence, women can be direct targets or collateral victims, as the result of their affective relationships as daughters, mothers, wives, partners or sisters.  Second, there exists violence intended to cause the forced displacement of women from their territory and the consequent removal from their homes, daily lives, community and family.  Third, sexual violence can be involved in the forced recruitment of women, destined to make them render sexual services to certain members of the guerrilla or paramilitary forces.  Fourth, there is violence intended to constantly subject women to measures of social control imposed by the illegal armed groups in communities or territories under the control of these groups.

 

A.       Non-combatant women–daughters, sisters, mothers, partners, and wives of combatants–as direct targets or collateral victims of physical, psychological and sexual violence

 

49.      Different sources from the State, civil society and the United Nations[44], as well as testimonies gathered during the visit and information obtained by the IACHR through different resources, coincide in corroborating and documenting a typology of war strategies that often include aggressions of a physical, psychological and sexual nature especially aimed at women.  In fact, in Colombia’s armed conflict, violence against women, primarily that of a sexual nature, has the objective of wounding, terrorizing and weakening the enemy to advance in the control over territories and economic resources.  Women can be direct or collateral victims of different forms of violence, as a result of their affective relationships as daughters, mothers, wives, partners or sisters.

 

50.       Through acts of physical, psychological and sexual violence, the armed actors seek to intimidate, punish and control women for having affective relationships with members of the opposing faction, for disobeying the norms imposed by the armed actors or for participating in organizations perceived as the enemy.  These acts, however, do not solely intend to dehumanize the victim as women.  These aggressions additionally serve as a tactic to humiliate, terrorize, and wound the “enemy”, either in the family nucleus or community of the victim.  

 

51.      The United Nations Rapporteur has stressed that violence against women in Colombia, in particular the sexual violence perpetrated by the armed groups, has become customary amidst a conflict that is gradually degenerating in view of the non-observance of international humanitarian law, and describes the main objectives of violence in the sphere of the armed conflict as follows:

 

Perhaps more than the honor of the victim, it is the perceived honor of the enemy that is targeted in the perpetration of sexual violence against women; it is seen and often experienced as a means of humiliating the opposition. Sexual violence against women is meant to demonstrate victory over the men of the other group who have failed to protect their women. It is a message of castration and emasculation of the enemy group. It is a battle among men fought over the bodies of women.[45]

 

52.        The sexual violence wounds the opposing faction in a special way because men are traditionally considered the protectors of the sexuality of women in their communities.  Therefore, when the sexuality of women is abused and exploited, this aggression becomes an act of domination and power over men in the community or over the group under control.[46] 

 

53.        The Mesa de Trabajo Mujer y Conflicto Armado[47] has emphasized regarding violence against women in Colombia that: “the honor of women is linked to that of men and, for this reason, to rape women in the context of the armed conflict is considered an action against the honor of the enemy, a form of vengeance.”[48]  Therefore, in the context of the Colombian armed conflict, the threat of violence, particularly sexual, is employed by the armed actors "as a symbolic act against the opposing faction."[49]  Furthermore, the Mesa has also indicated that: "some women have witnessed or know of violations, abuses and sexual bribes that are committed publicly as exemplary and retaliation acts. "[50]

 

54.        In regard to the relationship between different types of violence in the scheme of tactics of war, the interviews and testimonies gathered by the IACHR in Bogotá, Valledupar and Quibdó show that sexual violence against women is used as a strategy of war in itself or joins other forms of violence also employed against men, such as physical and psychological violence.  In line with the principles in CEDAW and the Convention of Belém do Pará, rape has been classified in the Statute of the International Criminal Court and the jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunals of Rwanda and Yugoslavia as a war crime and a crime against humanity.[51]  Article 7.1 (g) of the Rome Statute classifies as crimes against humanity: rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced sterilization or other sexual abuses of comparable seriousness.  It also recognizes that slavery includes trafficking of women.  Furthermore, sexual violence has been identified by the Inter-American System as an infringement of human rights by the Convention of Belém do Pará and the American Convention, which may, in certain circumstances, be categorized as torture.[52]

 

55.         Specifically, the actors of the conflict commit crimes of a sexual, physical or psychological nature against women and girls in the course of (1) attacks, massacres and murders committed against communities and their residents in the struggle to control resources and territories; (2) murders, acts of torture and threats against women who have some affective relationship with supporters or combatants or because they or their relatives are involved in political activities; and (3) detentions, home searches and kidnappings intended to obtain information, terrorize, punish, intimidate or coerce. 

 

56.         The Rapporteur received information from a variety of sources indicating that attacks, massacres and murders against communities perpetrated by the illegal armed groups in the conflict can be joined by acts of rape, sexual abuse and mutilation of a sexual nature.[53]  These aggressions may have various purposes, including: punishing or generating terror among communities and women accused of collaborating with the enemy and to force a displacement.[54]  On many occasions, rape and sexual mutilation have preceded massacres and homicides.  Nevertheless, State statistics do not record them as such, leaving them registered as tortures or homicides.  Similarly, security forces, paramilitary and guerrilla groups may use sexual violence to obtain information, terrorize, punish, intimidate or coerce women when they are detained, during home searches and kidnappings.[55] 

 

57.          Sexual violence can also join murders, acts of torture and targeting against women for their affective relations with some actor in the conflict or for their involvement with certain political tendencies.[56]  Concretely during the visit, the Rapporteur received information on incidents suffered by several women because they were part or were related to activities or members of the Patriotic Union (Unión Patriótica) and the Communist Party (Partido Comunista).  The delegation received the following testimony from a resident of the Municipality of Castillo, Department of Meta:

 

When I was 19 I began activities in the Communist Party [..] In 2001, the paramilitary began to enter the Meta region and people were very afraid, because they began to murder people. I stood this for two years, and they murdered my wife […] The day the paramilitary detained my wife, she was with our two-year-old daughter […] During the detention, a member of the paramilitary told my wife: ‘I am in an organization where, if I have to kill my mother I will kill her, because if I killed my brother why shouldn’t I kill a son of a bitch who is not part of my family.’ They beat her up and over ten of them raped her.  They had her detained for three days, where they tortured her to death. They did nothing physically to the little girl, but she saw all her mother’s suffering. They told me not to go denounce anything about what had happened, because they would find me wherever I went and kill me. No one wanted to go file a complaint […] because they left her on a corner where the paramilitary base is.[57]

 

1.         The effects and consequences of violence against women on the victims 

 

58.       The information received during the visit of the Rapporteur and the testimonies gathered in Bogotá, Valledupar and Quibdó reveal the physical and psychological consequences of the violence, particularly the sexual violence, exercised on the victims.  In addition to the trauma accompanying the act of sexual violence, it may expose women to unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections and chronic pain, physical disability, drug and alcohol abuse and depression.

 

59.       The Rapporteur received the following testimony during her visit to Valledupar, which illustrates the physical and psychological effects sexual violence can have in a victim:

 

I have a friend that she and her sister were raped, by two young men from the AUC. She was very much afraid, but they found out that she came home bleeding, and several days went by and she still bled. They took her to the doctor and she would not let the doctor examine her. She ran like a crazy woman and wouldn’t let any man near her. A nurse had to examine her and they performed tests and learned that she had been raped and had been traumatized morally and psychologically.[58]

 

60.         Victims are often rejected and stigmatized by their communities, families and partners.  When the incident has occurred in zones controlled by the illegal armed groups, where norms and punishments are imposed when the rules of conduct are violated, the community may in turn blame the victim herself for having disobeyed the rules and having received a punishment.

 

61.        Experience in the treatment of victims of physical and sexual violence has shown that it is vital to provide a specialized and multi-disciplinary support to mitigate the physical and psychological damage as a consequence of the social rejection.[59]  The Pan-American Health Organization, in collaboration with a number of international agencies, has described the services required for victims of different forms of violence as follows:

 

To provide integral, inter-disciplinary care. This includes medical and psychological care and support through support or self-help groups.  Additionally, providers must also know about other services and resources available in their community, to be able to refer the survivor to services that are not provided at the health center, or other services such as legal, economic support and protection, among others … To have a guide of public and private sector resources providing assistance and free legal aid for women who want to submit a legal complaint.[60]

 

62.        During the visit, the Rapporteur learned of a series of State services created by the Colombian State to support victims of sexual crimes.[61]  Among the main ones are the creation of the Family Commissions, the Integral Care Center for Victims of Sexual Crimes directed by the Office of the Attorney General, the Inter-Institutional Committees that have been created within the Office of the Ombudsman to serve victims and survivors of sexual crimes, and the territorial extension of the ICBF and the Social Solidarity Network centers, among others.  The effectiveness and scope of these efforts will be discussed in Chapter V.

 

2.         Violence in figures

 

63.       Information provided by both State authorities and non-State entities, as well as testimonies gathered during the visit, confirm that there is underreporting of cases of violence perpetrated against women within the Colombian armed conflict. In addition, the official statistics available do not accurately reflect the magnitude of the problem.[62]  The testimonies gathered and the stories of women that inhabit zones occupied by the armed actors and victims of forced displacement indicate that sexual violence is more frequent than it is believed, what the mass means of communication report and what the official statistics and records suggest.

 

64.       Figures on sexual violence against women provided by the INML show that the phenomenon is alarming and tending to increase.[63]  Concretely on 2004, there was a 25.8% overall increase in sexual crimes in Colombia.[64]  This phenomenon affected women disproportionately, to which 14,369 cases corresponded, 84% of the total.  The INML has stated that:

 

discussion continues on whether there is an increase in sexual crimes or in complaints. It has not been possible to measure these aspects because most of the time, the crime is not denounced for several reasons, including the serious psycho-social impact affecting the victim and her family.[65]

 

65.       The problem of sexual violence is reflected in public statistics, both at the national and local level.  In the locality of Quibdó, the Family Commission has reported that, between 2003 and 2004, 241 cases of sexual violence were reported, 153 involved girls and 62 involved adult women.[66]

 

66.       However, there are basic factors showing that these statistics represent an under-registry of violent incidents.  During the visit, testimonies and interviews conducted with the Office of the Ombudsman for the Rights of Children, Women and the Family and the Office of the Attorney General, show that fear of retaliation by aggressors, economic and affective dependence that women may have with their perpetrators, the social acceptance of violence against women, and the victim’s lack of knowledge about her rights, are weighty factors, among others, that contribute to the underreporting of cases of violence against women.[67]

 

67.       Moreover, the format used by the INML to gather information does not include armed actors as possible aggressors and does not show a complete picture of the situation in zones occupied by the actors involved in the conflict.[68]  For example, the INML only indicates in its report for 2004 that a high percentage of aggressors were persons known by the victim or near the family nucleus.[69]  Furthermore, the INML has identified deficiencies in the investigation of sexual crimes, including the reliance on laboratory tests, which can lead to an erroneous interpretation of what has happened, without any possibility of gathering other types of evidence from the aggressor or at the scene.[70]  It has also been reported that many crimes are not reflected in State statistics because the authorities choose not to enter zones occupied by the actors involved in the armed conflict.[71]  These concerns have also been addressed by the United Nations Rapporteur, where she indicates that the official statistics fail to reflect crimes of sexual aggression that may precede other acts of violence, such as murder or torture.[72]

 

68.       The Rapporteur of the IACHR corroborated that the official figures are not disaggregated by factors such as race and ethnic background and therefore, do not reflect the magnitude of the problem of violence against women within indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities.

 

69.       Another difficulty in documenting incidents of violence against women is the silence of victims about the aggression, particularly a sexual aggression, which is often caused by their own relatives, which can prolong for years.[73]  Amnesty International has recently discussed the natural challenges impeding the investigation of cases of violence against women, such as difficulties in making direct contact with survivors of abuse who fear reprisals from their aggressors and the rejection of their families and/or communities.[74]

 

B.      Forced displacement,[75] the humanitarian crisis and female heads of household

 

70.       The Rapporteur and the IACHR have progressively received a variety of statistics about the percentage of displaced women in Colombia from both State and non-State entities.  Despite their numerical variations, these figures confirm that displacement gravely affects women, who constitute about half of the displaced population.  The State has recognized that four out of every ten displaced families are headed by women.[76]  Yet more evident to the Rapporteur and the IACHR, has been the special impact of displacement on women, mostly in terms of the radical, traumatic and sudden change in their family structure and roles, geography, culture, community and socio-economic standing, and their exposure to threats, violence and discrimination based on their gender, perpetrated by either the actors of the conflict that caused the displacement or the receiving populations. 

 

71.       The IACHR has stated that it considers the internal displacement phenomenon in Colombia as one of the most serious aspects of the human rights situation and has described the situation of displaced persons as a grave humanitarian crisis.[77]  The IACHR has also identified women as a “sector disproportionately represented among the ranks of displaced persons”.[78]  It has been said that Colombia faces one of the most serious internal displacement crises in the world.[79]  The UNHCR has stressed that Colombia has the third-highest number of displaced persons in the world, only after Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[80] 

 

72.       The IACHR, along with United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations, such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have identified as some causes of internal displacement, threats, acts of violence and human rights abuses perpetrated by the armed actors to control territory and dominate the population throughout the country, military operations, selective murders, arbitrary detentions, counter-insurgency operations, reprisals by the guerrillas, conflicts over land and economic interests.[81]  The Rapporteur received this testimony during the visit, which illustrates the motives that can cause a force displacement:

 

When I lived there I was quite comfortable. I owned an inter-city bus, a taxi and also had many items of value and even my house, with my crops; however, I had to leave it all because the paramilitary threatened me. They wanted me to give them my sons to be part of their group. They offered me the sun, the moon and the stars and they would pay for my children’s studies and they would give me a house wherever I wanted [...] I said no! and that was when they threatened to kill me and gave me 24 hours to leave [...] But I didn’t! They came back to me and asked why I hadn’t left and I told them because I had a lot invested there and didn’t want my children to be left penniless. I begged them and begged them and they told me I had looked for trouble. But before I left they stole my taxi and burned the city bus I had because I didn’t pay protection money; these were the reasons and the threats that made me leave. It was so sudden, I wasn’t able to take anything with me, not even my own documents or those of my children, or any kind of utensils.  I took the small children out in their underwear and slippers.[82]

 

73.       As previously mentioned, the Social Solidarity Network has stated that four out of every ten families displaced are female-headed, which is higher than the figure for the non-displaced population.[83]  Official figures indicate that between 1995 and May 30 of   2005, approximately 1.6 million persons were forcibly displaced in Colombia.[84]  The Social Solidarity Network and the ICBF communicated to the Rapporteur during her visit that approximately 50 to 52% of the displaced persons were women and, 30% of this number corresponds to women that have become heads of household due to the lost or abandonment of their husbands.[85]

 

74.       In contrast, civil society sources, especially the Consultoría para los Derechos Humanos y el Desplazamiento en Colombia (hereinafter “CODHES”), claim that the number of internally displaced persons in Colombia doubles the figure published by the State.  From 1985 to December 31, 2004, CODHES estimates and calculates approximately 3,410,041 displaced persons, of which 51% are women.[86]  Amnesty International has also reported that, since 1983, over three million Colombians have been forced to run from their homes seeking safety.[87] 

 

75.       The variation between official and non-official figures have been explained by the different criteria applied by State officials in registering displaced persons; the fear of the displaced of suffering reprisals by the armed groups if they denounce their situation; the non-inclusion in State data of displaced persons due to aerial fumigations; and the persecution of women who have sentimental bonds with actors in the conflict and in the armed forces.[88]

 

76.       Among the most notable consequences for women who are victims of displacement are the changes in the dynamic of the family and spousal roles and responsibilities due to the death or loss of their husband or partner, the physical and psychological trauma caused by the acts and threats of violence, the need to adapt socially and economically to a new community, and the possible rejection of the latter.  UNIFEM affirms that the changes in roles and responsibilities due to displacement are fundamentally associated with the need to provide for their families, and the opportunities they find to achieve this.[89]  Using as a reference research by experts in this field, UNIFEM explains the impact of the change of roles and family structure on displaced women as follows:

 

Circumstances have forced displaced women to take responsibility for supporting their families economically, getting to know and learning to operate in the public sphere, where they have to visit different State and private agencies to arrange humanitarian assistance provided for under legislation on internal forced displacement, to participate in different organizations to claim their rights and to manage with different spatial and cultural referents that are more complex than in their places of origin. These factors often create new expectations for these women, discovering strengths and skills to begin processes leading to a search for new life projects and to question gender roles amidst adversity.[90]

 

77.       In other words, traditional behaviors of women and men may be forced to change in the socio-cultural, economic and political adaptation and reconstruction process the displacement experience involves.  After displacement:

 

Women tend to play a primary role in the family by activating networks for income and support. Men tend to assume a secondary role due to the loss of relationships, autonomy, authority and power; male and female children and youth bear economic and emotional burdens and cognitive marks that are deepened by these changes and by the lack of insertion in the educational system.[91]

 

78.       The Rapporteur received the following testimonies, that display the radical change in responsibilities and roles that displaced women may face when they suddenly become heads of household:

 

After my husband was murdered, as a consequence I was forcibly displaced, to come stay with my mother, work and take care of my children…. I began taking responsibility for my home, which was no longer traditional, because I became a female head of household.  Everything changed because of the violent incidents.[92]

 

I am a black woman displaced from the Chocó ten years ago. I lost my brother, who disappeared when the paramilitary forces took him away, just because he took part in a peasant march.  They forced us to leave our lands, they also took my husband away and three months passed with us knowing whether he was dead or alive.  With the help of the priest in my town I arrived at Barranquilla with my 6 children.  It was very challenging to support them, but we are making it ….[93]

 

One very lovely morning, just as we arrived from the town, we were bringing our purchases for the week from the market, my mother-in-law was in the house and my husband was in La Rosa working with his father and the workers, when the paramilitary arrived, shooting, and detonated a mine to blow up at the entrance to the farm. Then they came into our farm and took everything. They took my brother-in-law away and killed him.  Because we denounced this they threatened us and gave us 12 hours to get out.  We left without anything, just a suitcase and my children.  We arrived at the city of Barranquilla, and no one gave us a hand.  I had to live in a shelter for a year, working hard and putting up with hunger, which had never happened to me in my land …[94]

 

The armed groups came, fighting for territory. They took students from the schools, they took women.  When they came they would hold meetings in the community and set up rules, a schedule, they restricted inhabitants’ coming and going, they killed many innocent people and left many victims, orphans, widows and families broken up.  When they found out that I had a relationship with the police, because the father of my children was a policeman, they said that I was a frog, they insulted me and arrived at night and knocked on the door in the evening several times, and they told me that they knew all about me, even where my family was … I had to leave everything because I had the opportunity, when the Red Cross helped me leave town, to go to Quibdó and there, since they had taken my house, I was forced to go to Barranquilla.  My family and I were greatly affected, my daughter has more bad memories because she saw many armed men and every day and night we had to move to another house, where we would get together to spend the day and then rotate to another at night. Then they killed the father of my children in Medellín and this renewed our fear because we didn’t know why he was killed (we used to receive a great deal of economic support from him). I notice that my children behave differently since their father died. We have had very difficult times, especially because I have had to play the role of mother and father. This is a very harsh challenge. I can’t find any answer for what has happened, but I am eager to continue onward and try to be fine to protect the ones who are under my responsibility.[95]

 

79.       The United Nations Rapporteur has also reported how threats to the safety and physical integrity of displaced women may even continue in the communities where they seek refuge.[96]  Also, according to a recent study by the Liga de Mujeres Desplazadas, 34% of the women interviewed reported that, after the displacement, they continue to be victims of some form of threat or intimidation by the armed actors.[97]  The High Commissioner for Human Rights reported during 2005 that 52% of displaced women report having suffered some type of physical abuse and 36% have been forced by strangers to have sexual intercourse.[98]

 

80.       In practice, displaced women and particularly, heads of household, face deprivation and social and economic difficulties in the receiving community, which prevent them from re-establishing their lives, such as the lack of employment, discriminatory treatment for their condition as displaced, and the need to adapt to a new culture.  For example, according to the findings of research conducted by the Observatory of the Human Rights of Women,[99] who held 12 workshops and interviewed 1,096 displaced women in three departments (Valle, Bolívar and Santander), the interviewees described a series of needs and difficulties that limit their possibilities of rebuilding and re-establishing their lives after the displacement.  Among the greatest challenges, there is the need to adapt to a new social and cultural setting, the need to find new sources of subsistence and their own low educational levels. The Observatory found that in 2000, 34.6% of displaced women had not completed primary education, and only 3.8% had completed secondary school.

 

81.       The Rapporteur also received information about the results of a 2004 project implemented by the International Organization for Migration and the United States Agency for International Development called “Incorporating the Gender Perspective in the SNAIPD” which involved 289 displaced women from the municipalities of Buenaventura, Cali, Jamundí, and Tulúa, over half of which had been living in their new surroundings for one to three years.[100]  According to the existing legal framework, it would be expected that at this point they would have overcome the emergency situation and be in a progress of consolidation and socio-economic stabilization, either back at their places of origin or in resettlement areas.  However, the women interviewed revealed that their situation was far from stable and that, after the first year, the support from the State and the social services at their disposal were radically restricted.  They perceived that after the completion of one year from their displacement, not even the emergency humanitarian action had been appropriately fulfilled.

 

82.       The Rapporteur received testimonies about acts of discrimination and exploitation against displaced female heads of household.  CLADEM shared with the Rapporteur information about the range of bureaucratic barriers faced by displaced women when they attempt to use public support services.  For example, the registration process is delayed by the requirement of identity documents and information about their prior residence.  They also said they had been mistreated by public officials when they registered as displaced persons, and expressed concern over the complex requirements to register as displaced persons and their fear of reprisals when they make statements about those who forced their displacement.

 

83.       In interviews with displaced women in Bogotá, Quibdó and Valledupar, the Rapporteur found that they were missing the psycho-social support and the health services needed to overcome the consequences of displacement.  For women and girls, the displacement entails a radical, traumatic, and sudden change in family structure, geography, culture, community and socio-economic conditions, as well as possible exposure to threats, violence and discrimination perpetrated by either the armed actors who caused their displacement or the receiving communities.  Regarding health services, United Nations agencies communicated to the Rapporteur their concern that approximately 63% of displacement victims have no identity documents, which prevents them from accessing the health system.  The Observatory of the Human Rights of Women has described a practice that infringes on the rights of displaced women, which is to require them to apply for tutela (legal action to seek immediate relief for violation of a constitutional right) in order to access health services, which has been declared unconstitutional by the Sentence T-025 of the Constitutional Court.[101]

 

84.       Among the displaced persons in Colombia, it is evident that there are a high number of persons requiring special care and services, such as pregnant women.[102]  In fact, among other consequences of displacement associated with health, there is a high percentage of adolescent pregnancies among the displaced population, an increase in sexually transmitted diseases and in domestic violence.  Both ICBF and PROFAMILIA, a non-governmental organization that works directly with displaced women, communicated to the Rapporteur the high percentage of adolescent pregnancies recorded among the displaced population, which may be as high as 19% according to ICBF.  From the testimonies and the information gathered during the visit, the struggle for economic support and health and safety concerns that displaced girls face, forces them to have premature sexual relations and marriages.  Young girls may trade sex for clothing, money or places to enroll in school.  Both ICBF and PROFAMILIA have verified through their treatment and service-provision programs how domestic violence increases with displacement, due to the pressure and changes in the family dynamics that this phenomenon can cause at the social, cultural and economic levels.[103]

 

85.       The IACHR has stated that according to the American Convention and other domestic and international norms, internally displaced persons are entitled to freely enjoy the same rights and freedoms as the rest of the citizenry.[104]  However, in practice, they are seldom able to do so, because the displacement in itself essentially prevents them from enjoying their basic human rights.  Even in those cases in which persons are forced to abandon their homes for legitimate reasons, their displacement generally entails multiple violations of their human rights, especially during armed conflicts.[105]

 

86.       Furthermore, the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (“the Guiding Principles”), offer important guidance to the Commission on how the law should be interpreted during all phases of the displacement.[106]  For example, the Guiding Principles refer directly to the situation of women, stating that: “Special attention should be paid to the health needs of women, including access to female health care providers and services, such as reproductive health care, as well as appropriate counseling for victims of sexual and other abuses.”[107]  Additionally, the Convention of Belém do Pará also mandates State Parties to offer special attention to the situation of vulnerability to violence that women may suffer because of their condition as displaced and for being affected by armed conflict situations.[108]

 

C.        Forced and voluntary recruitment of women and girls

 

87.       The IACHR has received information from several sources about the recruitment of women and girls by the illegal armed actors, both forced and voluntary.  State authorities such as the ICBF, the United Nations, Amnesty International and the civil society, manifested their concern over this problem.  The United Nations Rapporteur described that women can perform different roles within the ranks as combatants, sexual slaves, informants, guides, messengers and the undertakers of domestic duties.[109]  According to Amnesty International, the FARC-EP and the ELN continue recruiting minors, both boys and girls, with this objective. [110]  From a gender perspective, it is particularly alarming the sexual abuse that can join this recruitment, either forced or voluntary, when those recruited are women or girls.

 

88.       The magnitude of this problem cannot be accurately verified.  During the interview of the delegation with the Governor of Valledupar, he communicated that State authorities know there are girls recruited by the armed groups, but they do not possess the necessary information to take action, especially in the case of indigenous families and communities.  Several sources, including the ICBF, have confirmed the difficulty in distinguishing among the forced and non-forced recruitment and of quantifying the number of women and girls linked to the illegal armed groups, since these groups do not make the figures public.  The ICBF, however, has established that since 1999, the number of girls formally severed from the armed groups through the mechanisms of individual and collective demobilization ascends to 718.

 

89.       Several State entities, United Nations agencies and the civil society have reported that the recruitment of women and girls may be joined by sexual aggressions perpetrated by members of the armed group, imposition of forced abortions and the use of contraceptive methods, sexual slavery and harassment by their superiors and other members.[111]  For example, the Rapporteur received information about the zone of Catatumbo, in northern Santander, indicating that one of the factors that has forced women to displace, aside from the death of their husbands or children, is the threat faced by their daughters over age 14 to be recruited by the ranks of the paramilitaries to become, not only combatants, but to also be sexually exploited by the armed actors.[112]

 

90.       During the visit, groups of women from the Caribbean coast voiced their concern to the Rapporteur over the recruitment of girls by the AUC, especially in the neighborhoods of Montería, such as Canta Claro, Unión, El Dorado, Santa Fe, Robinson Pitalua, La Turbina, among others. [113]  

 

91.       The IACHR has received information indicating that women and girls are raped by members of the armed groups, are subjected to forced abortions and are forced to use contraceptives, information that has been confirmed by the High Commissioner for Human Rights.[114]  The Office of the Ombudsman for the Rights of Children, Women and the Family has reported that girls severed from the armed groups have confirmed they were forced, within their groups, to place intrauterine devices, whether they were in agreement or not, and to practice abortions.[115]  Amnesty International in its report included testimonies from women and girls that abandoned the FARC-EP and the ELN showing that both guerrillas had forced their combatants, in some cases girls only 12 years old, to abort and use contraceptives.[116]

 

92.       Additionally, the IACHR also gathered testimonies about women recruited by the AUC in the Cauca region, where paramilitary leaders of the zone “order the search” of girls between the ages of 12 and 14 to live with them, provide sexual services and perform domestic duties.  Information was received about the case of a young pregnant woman that was murdered as a reprisal for having escaped.  Her baby was removed and displayed as a symbol to discourage other girls in the same situation from escaping.  Sometimes these girls are also required to participate in attacks and in intelligence operations.  In other cases, members of these groups take women in bars, bring them to their camps at night and return them the next morning to the town battered.

 

93.       During the visit to Quibdó, the IACHR obtained information from various sources, including the Diocese of Quibdó, about methods of recruitment used by the AUC of youth across the Atrato River banks.  Young girls who “wander aimlessly” thinking that they have no other options fall in love with members of the AUC who search for them.  Girls between 8 to 15 years old are sexually active even before their reproductive organs have developed which results in many unwanted pregnancies and State health institutions are not equipped to provide the necessary sexual and reproductive health services to address these social issues.

 

94.       On the other hand, the IACHR received information indicating that women and girls are also recruited by the illegal armed actors to perform military tasks within these groups.  For example, the IACHR has learned that in certain areas of the country, paramilitary leaders use women as their armed escorts.  One testimony references the situation of a 17-year-old young girl who was sent to a farm outside the city of Medellín where she was forced to receive training as a sniper.  She was able to escape, and had to remain in hiding for months to avoid being recaptured by members of the AUC who searched for her in various parts of the country. They only stopped persecuting her when one member of the paramilitary group agreed to present her as his partner.

 

95.       In regards to the situation of girls recruited either forcibly or voluntarily before the collective demobilization process of the AUC, the Law 975 of 2005, better known as the Law of Justice and Peace, includes a mechanism of hand-over.  Concretely, in the moment of demobilization, the armed group whose members pretend to access generous procedural benefits available to those responsible for committing crimes should deliver to the ICBF authorities girls and boys that are linked to their ranks, in compliance with the requirements of the eligibility criteria established in the law.  The experience of the ICBF during the last two years in the framework of the collective demobilization process indicates that many of the girls between 14 and 17 years old delivered to the authorities in these circumstances are pregnant and in some cases they later meet with demobilized members of the same group they inhabited with.

 

D.        The imposition of rules of conduct over women and girls

 

96.       During the visit, the Rapporteur received information and testimonies from State and non-State sources confirming that the actors in the conflict, in their struggle to control territories and resources and to become stronger as groups, tend to impose forms of social control over the living conditions of women.  This control is manifested by the general imposition of daily behavioral standards and codes of conduct on communities, where the armed actors intervene in family and community conflicts and even in the lifestyles of community members, imposing punishments that can include murder, torture and forms of cruel and degrading treatment.  In this context, the actors of the conflict regularly monitor the behavior and dress of women and adolescent girls and use sexual violence as a punishment and a general warning to the female population within the community under control.[117]

 

97.       The illegal armed groups dictate standards of conduct, intervene in family and community conflicts, set schedules and apply punishments that can include murder, torture and other forms of cruel and degrading treatment, when the inhabitants do not comply with the codes of conduct imposed by force.  This type of control has been preceded or joined in practice by what the paramilitary groups call “social cleansing” – homicide of small criminals, prostitutes, and other persons considered “socially undesirable” – conceived with the objective of showing their efficacy to safeguard the public order. 

 

98.       For example, in the Caribbean region, the Rapporteur received information indicating that in the case of Malambo, the neighborhoods of Villa Esperanza, Villa Campo, San Antonio, San Martín, Villa Rica, Villa Esther, la Bonga, Caimital, El Diamante and La Milagrosa are subject to a social control process where written communications signed by the AUC require residents to “get home no later than 10:00 pm”, also announcing that “persons caught smoking marijuana, jumping over walls, mugging and executing other criminal acts or vandalism will be executed on the spot.”  Similarly, “we will capture undocumented people, with tattoos, with nightcaps, dyed hair and strange haircuts”.  It additionally includes a complete and detailed listing of names of gang members, marijuana users and muggers who will soon be exterminated for the “social cleansing” of the Municipality of Soledad, and a warning is issued saying that “no one will respond for  minors captured late at night or found in the mountain”.[118]

 

99.       These forms of control promote culturally-rooted gender stereotypes and reaffirm conservative values.[119]  This is displayed in the norms imposed that maintain a strict differentiation between men and women, such as, for example, norms regarding clothing and personal appearance.  Men are forbidden to wear earrings, dye their hair or wear it long.  Women are required to wear uniform female garments and those considered provocative or suggestive are prohibited.  As indicated by Amnesty International: “Wearing clothes that expose the body to men’s gaze, having sexual relations outside of marriage, being a prostitute, or exercising independence by not having a male partner can drive the armed groups to persecute women and inflict on them the most appalling punishment.”[120] Amnesty International has described how “both the paramilitaries and the guerrillas appear to be competing to demonstrate that they are the guardians of a traditional form of sexual morality associated with the idea of order.”[121]  Besides clothing restrictions, the United Nations Rapporteur has also described social cleansing activities specifically affecting women, performed by the paramilitary groups, such as:

 

Prostitutes and women accused of adultery have been paraded nude on trucks around the village with a sign around their neck saying that these women wreck homes.  The police allegedly do not intervene and the local population has no recourse for justice.  Furthermore, pregnant women who have been forced to remain in cocaine‑growing areas under paramilitary control and who have been exposed to fumigation of the illicit crops reportedly have miscarriages, fetal malformations, skin problems and respiratory infections as a result.[122]

 

100.     During the visit of the Rapporteur to Quibdó, women’s groups confirmed that when illegal groups occupy their territories, they decide how women must dress and to whom they can talk.  The following two testimonies were received by the Rapporteur during her visit to Valledupar:

 

Seven years ago, the paramilitary groups took us out of Valencia and we went to Las Palomas, in the rural area of Montería, but the way things were going we had to go live downtown. There they dominated us even in sexual matters.  Imagine, recently they threw some young ladies out of town because they had extramarital relations with other men, as if one has no right to choose who one lives with or goes to bed with … We have also seen cases in which girls are obligated to practice prostitution, they are taken away at dawn and then they bring them back. This recently happened to a young girl.  Recently one of the paramilitaries took a young man’s wife away, just because he fancied her, saying ‘I’m taking her because she appeals to me’, and nothing happened. [123]

 

101.     Therefore, another implication with specific consequences for women is the community stigma that they may suffer as victims of sexual violence. For example, when sexual violence occurs in zones where the groups impose norms and punishments, rather than recognizing and condemning the sexual abuse, the community can find that the crime was simply the well-deserved result of disobeying the norms.
 

 

[TABLE OF CONTENTS]
 


[43] United Nations Development Fund for Women, Report on the Situation of Women in Colombia, September 2005, p. 9.

[44] See United Nations, Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Colombia, E/CN.4/2005/10, 28 February 2005; United Nations, Report submitted by Mrs. Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences: Mission to Colombia (1-7 November 2001), E/CN.4/2002/83/Add. 3, 11 March 2002; Amnesty International, Colombia, Scarred Bodies, Hidden Crimes: Sexual Violence against Women in the Armed Conflict, AMR 23/040/2004; United Nations Development Fund for Women, Report on the Situation of Women in Colombia, September 2005; Mesa de Trabajo de Mujer y Conflicto Armado, Report on Socio-Political Violence against Women, Youth and Girls in Colombia: Women and the Armed Conflict, October 2004; Confederación de Redes, Red Nacional de Mujeres y la Red de Educación Popular Entre Mujeres, One Step Forward, Two Back, Shadow Report, Platform of International Conference, Fourth World Conference on Women, 2004; Report Enforcement, Protection and Violation of Women’s Human Rights in a Country at War, Colombia 2005,  report submitted to the IACHR Rapporteur during her on-site visit to Colombia by platforms, organizations and groups of women, June 2005.

[45] United Nations, Report submitted by Mrs. Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences: Mission to Colombia (1-7 November 2001), E/CN.4/2002/83/Add. 3, 11 March 2002, para. 42.

[46] See Contribution of Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences of the United Nations in preparation of the World Conference against Racism,  Discrimination, Xenophobia and Intolerance (27 July 2001), A/CONF.189/PC.3/5), para. 120; United Nations Development Fund for Women, Women, War and Peace, Assessment of Independent Experts about the Impact of the Armed Conflict on Women and their Role in Peace-Building, 2002, pp. 1-10.

[47] The Mesa de Trabajo Mujer y Conflicto Armado  is a space of coordination and reflection composed of women’s and human rights organizations, social organizations, persons and national and international entities interested in giving visibility to the multiple forms of violence that affect women of all ages in the context of the Colombian armed conflict.  The Roundtable has published a series of reports analyzing important themes related to impact of the armed conflict on women in Colombia.

[48] Mesa de Trabajo de Mujer y Conflicto Armado, Report about the Sociopolitical Violence against Women, Girls and the Youth in Colombia, Bogotá, February 2003, p. 87.

[49] Mesa de Trabajo de Mujer y Conflicto Armado, Report about the Sociopolitical Violence against Women, Girls and the Youth in Colombia, Bogotá, February 2003, p. 87.

[50] Mesa de Trabajo de Mujer y Conflicto Armado, Report on Socio-Political Violence against Women, Youth and Girls in Colombia: Women and the Armed Conflict, October 2004.

[51] Rome Statute, International Criminal Court, Articles 7(1)(g), 8 (2)(b)(xxii) and 8(2)(e)(vi); ICTY, Prosecutor v. Anto Furudzija, ruling of 10 December 1998, para. 163; Case Celebici No. IT-96-21-T, Judgment, ICTY, 16 November 1998, para. 476.

[52] See IACHR, Merits Report, No. 53/01, Ana, Beatriz and Cecilia González-Pérez (Mexico), 4 April 2001; Report (Admissibility and Merits), No. 5/96, Case 10.970, Raquel Martin de Mejia, (Perú), 1 March 1996. In the case of Raquel Martín-Mejía, the IACHR established that rape could constitute a form of torture when it: “causes physical and mental suffering in the victim.  In addition to the violence suffered at the time it is committed, the victims are commonly hurt or, in some cases, are even made pregnant.  The fact of being made the subject of abuse of this nature also causes a psychological trauma that results, on the one hand, from having been humiliated and victimized, and on the other, from suffering the condemnation of the members of their community if they report what has been done to them”, IACHR, Report 5/96, paras. 199 and 200.

[53] See United Nations, Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Colombia, E/CN.4/2005/10, 28 February 2005, paras. 8, 14, 104, 106, 113; United Nations, Report submitted by Mrs. Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences: Mission to Colombia (1-7 November 2001), E/CN.4/2002/83/Add. 3, 11 March 2002, para. 42; United Nations Development Fund for Women, Report on the Situation of Women in Colombia, September 2005, pp. 9-11; Amnesty International, Colombia, Scarred Bodies, Hidden Crimes: Sexual Violence against Women in the Armed Conflict, AMR 23/040/2004, pp. 9-11; Mesa de Trabajo de Mujer y Conflicto Armado, Report on Socio-Political Violence against Women, Youth and Girls in Colombia: Women and the Armed Conflict, October 2004, pp. 79-86; Confederación de Redes, Red Nacional de Mujeres y la Red de Educación Popular Entre Mujeres, One Step Forward, Two Back, Shadow Report, Platform of International Conference, Fourth World Conference on Women, 2004, pp. 29-39; Report Enforcement, Protection and Violation of Women’s Human Rights in a Country at War, Colombia 2005, report submitted to the IACHR Rapporteur during her on-site visit to Colombia by platforms, organizations and groups of women, June 2005, section 4.2.

[54] See United Nations, Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Colombia, E/CN.4/2005/10, 28 February 2005, paras. 8, 14, 104, 106, 113; United Nations, Report submitted by Mrs. Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences: Mission to Colombia (1-7 November 2001), E/CN.4/2002/83/Add. 3, 11 March 2002, para. 42; United Nations Development Fund for Women, Report on the Situation of Women in Colombia, September 2005, pp. 9-11; Amnesty International, Colombia, Scarred Bodies, Hidden Crimes: Sexual Violence against Women in the Armed Conflict, AMR 23/040/2004, pp. 9-11; Mesa de Trabajo de Mujer y Conflicto Armado, Report on Socio-Political Violence against Women, Youth and Girls in Colombia: Women and the Armed Conflict, October 2004, pp. 79-86;. Confederación de Redes, Red Nacional de Mujeres y la Red de Educación Popular Entre Mujeres, One Step Forward, Two Back, Shadow Report, Platform of International Conference, Fourth World Conference on Women, 2004, pp. 29-39; Report Enforcement, Protection and Violation of Women’s Human Rights in a Country at War, Colombia 2005, report submitted to the IACHR Rapporteur during her on-site visit to Colombia by platforms, organizations and groups of women, June 2005, section 4.2.

[55] See United Nations, Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Colombia, E/CN.4/2005/10, 28 February 2005; United Nations, Report submitted by Mrs. Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences: Mission to Colombia (1-7 November 2001), E/CN.4/2002/83/Add. 3, 11 March 2002; United Nations Development Fund for Women, Report on the Situation of Women in Colombia, September 2005; Amnesty International, Colombia, Scarred Bodies, Hidden Crimes: Sexual Violence against Women in the Armed Conflict, AMR 23/040/2004; Mesa de Trabajo de Mujer y Conflicto Armado, Report on Socio-Political Violence against Women, Youth and Girls in Colombia: Women and the Armed Conflict, October 2004; Confederación de Redes, Red Nacional de Mujeres y la Red de Educación Popular Entre Mujeres, One Step Forward, Two Back, Shadow Report, Platform of International Conference, Fourth World Conference on Women, 2004; Report Enforcement, Protection and Violation of Women’s Human Rights in a Country at War, Colombia 2005, report submitted to the IACHR Rapporteur during her on-site visit to Colombia by platforms, organizations and groups of women, June 2005.

[56] United Nations, Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Colombia, E/CN.4/2005/10, 28 February 2005, para. 15.

[57] Declarations presented to the Corporación para la Promoción y Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (REINICIAR) submitted to the IACHR Rapporteur during her on-site visit to Colombia, dated 2 August 2004 and 4 November 2004, respectively.

[58] Testimonies collected by the Iniciativa de las Mujeres por la Paz in the report Violence against Women in the Framework of the Armed Conflict, submitted to the IACHR Rapporteur during her on-site visit to Colombia.

[59] World Health Organization, World Report on Violence and Health, 2003, Chapter 6, Sexual Violence, pp. 176-179.

[60] Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Inter-American Commission of Women of the Organization of American States (CIM/OAS), Inter-American Parliamentary Group on Population and Development (GPI), Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), IPAS, ISIS International, Latin American and Caribbean Committee on the Defense of the Rights of Women (CLADEM), Model Laws and Policies on Domestic Violence against Women, Washington, DC, April 2004, p. 27.

[61] Report by the Colombian State on the Implementation of the Beijing Platform of Action (1995) and findings of the Twenty-Third Special Period of Sessions of the General Assembly (2000), Álvaro Uribe-Vélez, President of the Republic, Carolina Barco-Isackson, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Martha Lucia Vázquez-Zawadsky, Presidential Office on Gender Equality, Bogotá, May 2004, pp. 125–140.

[62] Mesa de Trabajo de Mujer y Conflicto Armado, Report on Socio-Political Violence against Women, Youth and Girls in Colombia: Women and the Armed Conflict, October 2004, p. 79; United Nations, Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Colombia, E/CN.4/2005/10, 28 February 2005, para. 99; Corporación Sisma Mujer, Report on Gender Justice: From the Armed Conflict to Judicial Reforms, Colombia 2001-2004, pp. 32-37; Mesa de Trabajo de Mujer y Conflicto Armado, Report on Socio-Political Violence against Women, Youth and Girls in Colombia: Women and the Armed Conflict, October 2004, p. 84; furthermore, the Colombian State manifests its awareness of this void, which led to the implementation of a general population census in Colombia on 2005, with the expectation that the results would help to identify disaggregated statistics to improve the focus of plans and programs developed by the National Government.  Note DDH/OEA 25245/1210 of the Human Rights Direction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Colombian Republic, 24 May 2006.

[63] See figures for 2001-2004 available online: http://www.medicinalegal.gov.co/; National Institute of Legal Medicine, Publication 2004 Forensis: Data for Life, p. 164; see analysis of figures on Corporación Sisma Mujer, Report on Gender Justice: From the Armed Conflict to Judicial Reforms, Colombia 2001-2004, p. 46.

[64] The National Institute of Legal Medicine performed 17,912 legal medical procedures, direct and indirect, a major increase from the previous year, with 3,673 cases. View National Institute of Legal Medicine, Publication 2004 Forensis: Data for Life, p. 164.

[65] See National Institute of Legal Medicine, Publication 2004 Forensis: Data for Life,
p. 172.

[66] Report by the Family Commission of the Municipality of Quibdó, cited by Report: Chocó: Territory of Wealth and Survival, prepared by the Red de Mujeres Chocoanas, submitted to the IACHR Rapporteur during her on-site visit to Colombia, p. 4.

[67] Presentation by Doctor Maria Cristina Hurtado-Sánchez, Office of the Ombudsman for the Rights of Children, Youth and the Family of Colombia at Experts Meeting: Access to Justice in Andean Region Countries, organized by the Rapporteurship on the Rights of Women of the IACHR, Instituto de Defensa Legal, Lima, Perú, August 1-2, 2005.

[68] See Corporación Sisma Mujer, Report on Gender Justice: From the Armed Conflict to Judicial Reforms, Colombia 2001-2004; the Colombian State informed the IACHR that the Information System for the Analysis of Violence and Accidents in Colombia contains the variable of alleged aggressor with 45 options of categories, which allegedly facilitate the identification of potential aggressors pertaining to the illegal groups. However, the State also notes that it is difficult to confirm this data, given that the information obtained during the interview with the victim related to the sexual aggression does not identify the condition of the aggressor.  Note DDH/OEA 25245/1210 of the Direction of Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Colombian Republic, 24 May 2006.

[69] National Institute of Legal Medicine, Publication 2004 Forensis: Data for Life, p. 149.

[70] National Institute of Legal Medicine, Publication 2004 Forensis: Data for Life, p. 167.

[71] Corporación Sisma Mujer, Report on Gender Justice: From the Armed Conflict to Judicial Reforms, Colombia 2001-2004, p. 36.

[72] United Nations, Report submitted by Mrs. Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences: Mission to Colombia (1-7 November 2001), E/CN.4/2002/83/Add. 3, 11 March 2002, para. 45.

[73] Mesa de Trabajo de Mujer y Conflicto Armado, Report on Socio-Political Violence against Women, Youth and Girls in Colombia: Women and the Armed Conflict, October 2004,
p. 90.

[74] Amnesty International, Colombia, Scarred Bodies, Hidden Crimes: Sexual Violence against Women in the Armed Conflict, AMR 23/040/2004, p. 14.

[75] According to the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, internally displaced persons are “persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized State border.” Guiding Principles on Internal Displacements, attachment to the Report of the Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr. Francis S. Deng, submitted pursuant to Commission resolution 1997/39, E/CN.4/1998/53/Add.2, 11 February 1998 [hereinafter Guiding Principles].

[76] See United Nations Development Fund for Women, Report on the Situation of Women in Colombia, September 2005, p. 18; Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Assessment of Public Policy on Prevention, Protection and Attention for forced internal displacement in Colombia (Aug 2002 -2004), Bogotá, Colombia, December 2004, p. 110.

[77] IACHR, Third Report on the Human Rights Situation in Colombia, (1999), Chapter VI, Forced Internal Displacement, para. 1, section C, para. 26.

[78] IACHR, Third Report on the Human Rights Situation in Colombia, (1999), Chapter VI, Forced Internal Displacement, para. 1, section C, para. 26.

[79] Human Rights Watch, Report on the Internally Displaced in Colombia, Chapter III, 2005; United Nations, Report submitted by Mrs. Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences: Mission to Colombia (1-7 November 2001), E/CN.4/2002/83/Add. 3, 11 March 2002, para. 59.

[80] See United Nations Development Fund for Women, Report on the Situation of Women in Colombia, September 2005, p. 18, citing information provided by the UNHCR.

[81] See United Nations, Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Colombia, E/CN.4/200x5/10, 28 February 2005, paras. 42-44; Report submitted by Mrs. Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences: Mission to Colombia (1-7 November 2001), E/CN.4/2002/83/Add. 3, 11 March 2002, paras. 59-60; Amnesty International, Colombia, Scarred Bodies, Hidden Crimes: Sexual Violence against Women in the Armed Conflict, AMR 23/040/2004, pp. 52-53; United Nations Development Fund for Women, Report on the Situation of Women in Colombia, September 2005, p.19; CODHES Informs Bulletin 48: Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement; Mesa de Trabajo de Mujer y Conflicto Armado, Report on Socio-Political Violence against Women, Youth and Girls in Colombia: Women and the Armed Conflict, October 2004, p. 34; Confederación de Redes, Red Nacional de Mujeres y la Red de Educación Popular Entre Mujeres, One Step Forward, Two Back, Shadow Report, Platform of International Conference, Fourth World Conference on Women, 2004; Report Enforcement, Protection and Violation of Women’s Human Rights in a Country at War, Colombia 2005, report submitted to the IACHR Rapporteur during her on-site visit to Colombia by platforms, organizations and groups of women, June 2005.

[82] Testimony from Bolívar, Report on the Situation of Women on the Caribbean Coast, submitted to the IACHR Rapporteur during her site on-site visit to Colombia.

[83] Assessment of Public Policy on Prevention, Protection and Attention for forced internal displacement in Colombia (August 2002 – 2004), UNHCR, Bogotá, Colombia, December 2004,
p. 110.

[84] According to the Single Registry System of the Social Solidarity Network, as of 31 December 2004 the number of displaced persons ascended to 1,565,765 persons. See Social Solidarity Network, Single Registry System, cumulative to 31 December 2004, date of report 3 January 2005, available online: www.red.gov.co.  As of 31 October 2005, the Single Registry System of the Social Solidarity Network includes the figure of 1,706,236 and a number of 383,486 households.  See Social Solidarity Network, Single Registry System, Report of 31 October 2005, Cumulative yearly total: Population Displaced by Violence, available online: www.red.gov.co

[85] The Rapporteur received information from non-governmental and United Nations entities indicating that the State has no information about the sex of about 19% of the displaced persons and the ages of 29%. See Report Enforcement, Protection and Violation of Women’s Human Rights in a Country at War, Colombia 2005, submitted to the IACHR Rapporteur during her on-site visit to Colombia by platforms, organizations and groups of women, June 2005,
section 4.1.

[86] See CODHES cumulative to 31 December 2004, available online: www.codhes.org.co.  Just between July 1 and September 30, 2005, some 99,338 persons, comprising 19,868 households, were displaced from their habitual living or workplaces by acts of violence and insecurity associated with the escalation of the domestic armed conflict, representing an increase of 32% over the same period in 2004. See CODHES, Bulletin 64: Displaced persons – Do they have any rights?, 26 October 2005.

[87] Amnesty International, Colombia, Scarred Bodies, Hidden Crimes: Sexual Violence against Women in the Armed Conflict, AMR 23/040/2004, p. 52.

[88] See United Nations Development Fund for Women, Report about the Situation of Women in Colombia, September 2005, p. 18; Report Enforcement, Protection and Violation of Women’s Human Rights in a Country at War, Colombia 2005, report submitted to the IACHR Rapporteur during her on-site visit to Colombia by platforms, organizations and groups of women, June 2005, section 4.1; Confluencia Nacional de Redes de Mujeres, Corporación Sisma Mujer and Atelier-IEPALA, Observatory of the Human Rights of Women, Displaced Women: Actions of the Colombian Government, March 2004.

[89] See United Nations Development Fund for Women, Report on the Situation of Women in Colombia, September 2005, p. 22; see also United Nations Development Fund for Women, Colombian Women Searching for Peace: A Review of their Initiatives and Proposals, 2004,
paras. 23-24.

[90] United Nations Development Fund for Women, Colombian Women Searching for Peace: A Review of their Initiatives and Proposals, 2004, para. 24.

[91] CODHES, The Women in the War: From Inequality to Political Autonomy, Colombia, October 2004, p. 64, citing Henao Arcila, Diego Fernando, Suárez Morales, Harvey Danilo and others, Family Structure, Children and Armed Conflict: A Study of Forced Displacement in Colombia, National University of Colombia, 1997.

[92] Testimony collected by the Iniciativa de Mujeres por la Paz, submitted to the IACHR Rapporteur during her on-site visit to Colombia on 20 June 2005.

[93] Testimony collected by the Iniciativa de Mujeres por la Paz, submitted to the IACHR Rapporteur during her on-site visit to Colombia on 20 June 2005.

[94] Testimony collected by the Iniciativa de Mujeres por la Paz, submitted to the IACHR Rapporteur during her on-site visit to Colombia on 20 June 2005.

[95] Testimony collected by the Iniciativa de Mujeres por la Paz, submitted to the IACHR Rapporteur during her on-site visit to Colombia on 20 June 2005.

[96] United Nations, Report submitted by Mrs. Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences: Mission to Colombia (1-7 November 2001), E/CN.4/2002/83/Add. 3, 11 March 2002, para. 63.

[97] Liga de Mujeres Desplazadas, Survey on the Prevalence of Gender-Based Violence, 2004; Report Enforcement, Protection and Violation of Women’s Human Rights in a Country at War, Colombia 2005, report submitted to the IACHR Rapporteur during her on-site visit to Colombia by platforms, organizations and groups of women, June 2005.

[98] See United Nations, Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Colombia, E/CN.4/2005/10, 28 February 2005, Attachment III, p. 62, para. 6.

[99] See Confluencia Nacional de Redes de Mujeres, Corporacion Sisma Mujer y Ateleier-IEPALA, Observatory of the Human Rights of Women, Displaced Women: Actions of the Colombian Government, March 2004.

[100] See results of investigation in publication: Women in Situation of Displacement, Cali, September 2005, with support from USAID and IOM.

[101] Confluencia Nacional de Redes de Mujeres, Corporación Sisma Mujer, Atelier-IEPALA, Observatory of the Human Rights of Women, Displaced Women: Actions of the Colombian Government, March 2004, p. 16.

[102] See IACHR, Report on the Human Rights Situation in Colombia (1999).

[103] Gabriel Ojeda and Rocío Murad, Sexual and Reproductive Health in Marginalized Zones: Situation of Displaced Women (Santa Fé de Bogotá: PROFAMILIA, 2001), pág. 109.

[104] IACHR, Third Report on the Human Rights Situation in Colombia (1999), Chapter VI, Forced Internal Displacement, para. 4.

[105] IACHR, Third Report on the Human Rights Situation in Colombia (1999), Chapter VI, Forced Internal Displacement, para. 4.

[106] United Nations, Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, attachment to the Report of the Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr. Francis S. Deng, submitted pursuant to Commission resolution 1997/39, E/CN.4/1998/53/Add.2, 11 February 1998.

[107] Guiding Principles, Number 19 (2).

[108] Convention of Belém do Pará, Art. 9.

[109] United Nations, Report submitted by Mrs. Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences: Mission to Colombia (1-7 November 2001), E/CN.4/2002/83/Add. 3, 11 March 2002, para. 50; Amnesty International, Colombia, Scarred Bodies, Hidden Crimes: Sexual Violence against Women in the Armed Conflict, AMR 23/040/200, pp. 18-19.

[110] Amnesty International, Colombia, Scarred Bodies, Hidden Crimes: Sexual Violence against Women in the Armed Conflict, AMR 23/040/2004, p. 19.

[111] United Nations, Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Colombia, E/CN.4/2005/10, 28 February 2005, paras. 14 and 51; Office of the Ombudsman for Children, Women and the Family, Report on Children and Adolescents Linked to the Illegal Armed Groups that Participate in the Colombian Armed Conflict, received by the Rapporteur during her on-site visit; Amnesty International, Colombia, Scarred Bodies, Hidden Crimes: Sexual Violence against Women in the Armed Conflict, AMR 23/040/2004, pp. 18-19; Report Enforcement, Protection and Violation of Women’s Human Rights in a Country at War, Colombia 2005, report submitted to the IACHR Rapporteur during her on-site visit to Colombia by platforms, organizations and groups of women, June 2005, section 4.2.

[112] Report prepared by the Iniciativa de Mujeres por la Paz on the situation of women in the region of Northern Santander, received by the Rapporteur during her on-site visit.

[113] Report on the Situation of Women in the Caribbean Coast, received by the Rapporteur during her on-site visit.

[114] United Nations, Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Colombia, E/CN.4/2005/10, 28 February 2005, paras. 14 and 51.

[115] Office of the Ombudsman for Children, Women and the Family, Report on Children and Adolescents Linked to the Illegal Armed Groups that Participate in the Colombian Armed Conflict, received by the Rapporteur during her on-site visit.

[116] Amnesty International, Colombia, Scarred Bodies, Hidden Crimes: Sexual Violence against Women in the Armed Conflict, AMR 23/040/2004, pp. 18-19.

[117] Amnesty International, Colombia, Scarred Bodies, Hidden Crimes: Sexual Violence against Women in the Armed Conflict, AMR 23/040/2004, p. 43.

[118] Document presented to the Rapporteur during her on-site visit by the Red de Mujeres del Caribe, Iniciativa Colombiana de Mujeres por la Paz, Ruta Pacífica, Red Nacional de Mujeres, Red de Mujeres Afrocolombianas, Madres Comunitarias, Tribunal de Mujeres and DESC Región Caribe.

[119] United Nations, Report submitted by Mrs. Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences: Mission to Colombia (1-7 November 2001), E/CN.4/2002/83/Add. 3, 11 March 2002, p. 46.

[120] Amnesty International, Amnesty International, Colombia, Scarred Bodies, Hidden Crimes: Sexual Violence against Women in the Armed Conflict, AMR 23/040/2004, p. 44.

[121] Amnesty International, Amnesty International, Colombia, Scarred Bodies, Hidden Crimes: Sexual Violence against Women in the Armed Conflict, AMR 23/040/2004, p. 44.

[122] United Nations, Report submitted by Mrs. Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences: Mission to Colombia (1-7 November 2001), E/CN.4/2002/83/Add. 3, 11 March 2002, p. 46.

[123] Testimony documented by the Iniciativa de las Mujeres por la Paz, submitted to the IACHR Rapporteur during her on-site visit to Colombia.  During the visit, the Iniciativa submitted to the Rapporteur documentation indicating the following:

Other aspect of the experience is the rupture of some households due to the loopholes that have emerged in their functionality and cohesion.  There have been cases where some women cannot deny the pretensions of one or some armed men, who harass and intimidate them, and in certain occasions they have been obligated to have sexual relations with them.   These facts are reflected in expressions such as “When a paraco is interested in a woman, he does not care whether she is married, whether she lives in a free union, whether she has children or not, he gets her some way”.   These patterns have resulted in the poor reporting of sexual abuse cases.  The victims fear reporting abuses due to intimidation by their perpetrators.