| Colombia has ratified major international and regional human rights treaties, which limit discrimination against women and has enacted several laws which aim to guarantee women’s equality. Nevertheless, discrimination against women in Colombia persists and often takes the form of gender-based violence, particularly prevalent in the ongoing conflict. (1)
Women have been involved in Colombia’s 50-year internal conflict as victims, combatants and supporters of armed groups, and peacemakers. Women and girls account for more than 55 percent of the nearly three million Colombians displaced by the violent conflict since 1985. (2) Due to their traditionally domestic role, displaced women are often less prepared than men for the socio-economic crisis of displacement, and 49 to 58 percent of households are headed by women. (3) Most of the displaced are forced to leave rural areas and find little use for their agricultural skills in cities. Many find it difficult to generate income outside of the informal sector, and experience a high rate of poverty and deprivation as a result.
Displaced women and girls face additional risks including violence perpetrated by armed actors. Paramilitary and guerrilla forces often use violence, such as rape and sexual slavery, as tools of repression. State protection against the targeting of civilians and internally displaced people is scarce, thus much violence goes officially unreported and unpunished. Displaced populations often also lack basic services, particularly impacting women in the area of reproductive health care. Cuts in government resources and personnel have forced individuals to rely on services provided by nonprofit groups, which are unable to serve all who need care. Domestic violence in displacement is another concern, as about 52% of displaced women experience domestic abuse, as compared to 20% of women in the general population. (4)
Despite the challenges, women’s local and national groups have been organizing for peace throughout the conflict, with an increase in activity in the early 1990s—also making them targets of repression by guerilla and paramilitary forces. By 2002, 17 percent of assassinated and disappeared Colombian leaders and activists were women. (5) Although the official peace process in Colombia is currently stalled, women’s groups continue to present alternatives to violence, identify root causes of the conflict, carve out “peace zones,” unite diverse groups, and demand that the voices of civil society be heard in future negotiations. (6)
Sources:
1) World Organization against Torture on Relief Web, “Violence against Women in Colombia a Continuing Concern,” 11 November 2003 at http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/0/96df6bac43ddb1fdc1256ddb00440d53?OpenDocument. 12 April 2004.
2) United States Institute of Peace, “Special Report: Civil Society under Siege in Colombia,” February 2004, 3 at http://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/sr114.pdf. 12 April 2004.
3) Reproductive Health Response in Conflict Consortium, “Columbia 2003: Displaced and Desperate: Assessment of Reproductive Health for Colombia's Internally Displaced Persons,” at http://www.rhrc.org/pdf/co_rh.pdf. 12 April 2004.
4) U.S. Office on Colombia, “Understanding Colombia” Series-The Impact of the War on Women: Colombian Women’s Struggle,” January 2004, at http://usofficeoncolombia.org/insidecolombia/women.htm. 12 April 2004.
5) Women Waging Peace, “In the Midst of War: Women’s Contributions to Peace in Colombia,” April 2004, at http://www.womenwagingpeace.net/content/articles/ColombiaExecSummary.pdf. 15 April 2004.
6) Ibid.
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