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ANNUAL REPORT 2009
CHAPTER V
FOLLOW-UP REPORT – VIOLENCE AND DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN IN THE ARMED CONFLICT IN COLOMBIA
I. INTRODUCTION
1. The purpose of this report is to follow up on the recommendations that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights made in the report titled Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia, published on October 18, 2006 (hereinafter “the 2006 Report”). In that report, the Commission examined the principal manifestations of violence that especially affect women within the armed conflict[1] in Colombia, and the toll they have taken on those women’s lives and health. The report also expressed concern over the types of discrimination that Afro-Colombian and indigenous women experience, and the particular way in which the armed conflict has affected them. The 2006 Report analyzed the progress that the Colombian State had made in responding to the impact of the armed conflict on women and the challenges it still faced; it included a series of recommendations to help craft a comprehensive state policy that tackled these problems and better protected women’s human rights. The recommendations made in the 2006 Report were of two kinds: general recommendations and recommendations by type of attention and response, which included legislation, public policies, state institutions and programs, diagnosis and prevention, public services for displaced women, administration of justice, civil and political participation, and truth, justice and reparation.
2. Since publication of the 2006 Report, the Commission has continued to closely monitor the issues identified as the priorities with respect to the violence and discrimination that women suffer in the context of the armed conflict in the country. The Commission has held issues-related hearings and has received updated information from a variety of sectors, among them the government, civil society organizations and networks, international agencies and others. On October 23, 2008, the Commission held a hearing titled “Discrimination and violence against women as a result of the armed conflict in Colombia” to follow up on the recommendations made in the 2006 Report. In attendance were women’s organizations, civil society organizations and representatives of the State.[2] On July 18, 2007, during the Commission’s 128th session, a public hearing was held on the situation of children and teens involved in Colombia’s internal armed conflict, where information was supplied indicating that young girls and teenage girls continued to be associated with unlawful armed groups.[3]
3. By a communication dated August 28, 2009, the Commission requested information from the State and the following civil society organizations and networks in Colombia: the Mesa de Trabajo Mujer y Conflicto Armado [Working Group on Women and Armed Conflict],[4] the Mesa de Seguimiento del Auto 092 – justicia en violencia sexual [Working Group to Monitor Compliance with Order 092 – Justice and sexual violence][5] and the Mesa de Seguimiento del Auto 092 sobre los programs y políticas públicas [Working Group to Monitor Compliance with Order 092 – Public Policies and Programs],[6] concerning compliance with the recommendations set forth in the 2006 Report. This report was prepared on the basis of the information compiled in the thematic hearings and through the requests for information to follow up on the 2006 Report, information received via the other mechanisms that the Commission uses in the case of Colombia, and public information available from international agencies and organizations that have documented and analyzed the situation of women’s human rights in Colombia over the last three years.
4. This Follow-up Report is divided into four sections devoted to the measures that the State has taken since 2006 to deal with the challenges posed by violence and discrimination against women, challenges compounded by the armed conflict. The Report begins with a brief analysis of the impact that the Colombian armed conflict has had on women during the period under study, starting with the recommendations that the Commission issued in its previous report. It also examines the current situation with regard to the manifestations of violence that the 2006 Report examined. It looks at the various types of discrimination that indigenous and Afro-Colombian women continue to experience, all in light of the Commission’s recommendations on this subject and the situation in Colombia today.
5. This Follow-up Report also examines what the State has done since October 2006 to configure and implement laws and public policies to protect women’s human rights from the violence and discrimination wrought by the armed conflict; the administration of justice; and humanitarian assistance and support services to victims of forced displacement. It also looks at the progress the State has made and the obstacles that still stand in the way of women’s right to truth, justice and reparation. The conclusions capture the principal obstacles and advances with regard to the State’s compliance with its obligations to protect women’s human rights and to adopt a comprehensive State policy that offers a satisfactory response to the acts of violence and discrimination that women experience in the armed conflict.
6. The structure of this report is the one the Commission used in the 2006 Report. Each section makes reference to the pertinent recommendations that the Commission made in the 2006 report. The final chapter sets out all the recommendations that the Commission made in the 2006 Report and underscores how important it is that the Colombian State fully complies with and carries out those recommendations.
II. THE ARMED CONFLICT IN COLOMBIA AND ITS IMPACT ON WOMEN
7. In its 2006 Report, the Commission found that the armed conflict in Colombia affects men and women differently, because it has aggravated the discrimination and violence that Colombian women have always experienced.[7] There the Commission wrote that all the factors that had historically exposed women to discrimination and inferior treatment, above all their bodily differences and their reproductive capacity, were exploited and manipulated by the actors in the armed conflict.[8] In that report, the Commission also examined the various manifestations of violence caused by the armed conflict –forms of physical, psychological and sexual violence-, the disproportionate impact that forced displacement has on women, the forced recruitment of women and girls by lawless groups, and the fact that the actors in the conflict were dictating standards of conduct that were more demanding of women. The heavier toll that the violence has taken on women takes various forms, among them unwanted pregnancies, forced abortions, the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, and the community’s rejection and stigmatization of the victim.[9] The Commission also examined the multi-faceted discrimination that indigenous and Afro-Colombian women experience by reason of their sex, race and ethnicity, a situation that is perpetuated and aggravated by the variables of the armed conflict.
8. In its 2006 Report, the Commission also examined the State’s response to the violence and discrimination against women produced by the armed conflict and recognized that advances had been made in the adoption of national legislation and public policies calculated to protect women’s human rights in the face of the armed conflict. However, it concluded that a comprehensive State policy and coordinated and multi-disciplinary programs to address the specific impact of the armed conflict on women were missing. It found that one of the major problems was with the analysis and prevention of the consequences that the armed conflict has for women. It also found that the perspective on women as the target audience and beneficiaries of State protection and services was homogenous, and failed to consider the particular needs of different groups of women. The Commission also detected gaps in the humanitarian assistance and support services for women victims of forced displacement; obstacles that women victims of violence and discrimination encounter in terms of access to the justice system; a need to protect and legitimize the work that defenders of women’s human rights do; and deficiencies in the proceedings conducted under the Justice and Peace Law to protect women’s rights in the context of the armed conflict.[10]
9. The Commission therefore made the following general recommendations to the State: 1) To adopt an integral State policy to address the specific impact of the armed conflict on women in the areas of justice, health and education, among others; 2) To implement and strengthen measures to comply with the duty to act with due diligence to prevent, sanction and eradicate violence and discrimination against women, exacerbated by the armed conflict; 3) To implement measures to eradicate discriminatory socio-cultural patterns based on sex, race, and ethnic background, and to take these differences and conditions of vulnerability into account when developing public policies to mitigate the pernicious effect of the armed conflict on Colombian women; 4) To publicly recognize that the different manifestations of gender-based violence and discrimination are closely related to the human rights and humanitarian crisis that Colombia is experiencing; and 5) To duly apply the recommendations previously issued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and United Nations follow-up mechanisms (recommendations 1 to 5). It also made a number of specific recommendations with a view to enhancing the State’s response on the protection of women’s human rights in law and public policy; the services to displaced women; the analysis and prevention of violence; the issue of indigenous and Afro-Colombian women; the administration of justice; women’s participation in civic and political matters; and the proceedings conducted under the Truth and Justice Law, to protect women’s right to truth, justice and reparation (Recommendations 6 to 65).
10. In this report, which is a follow-up to those recommendations and covers the period since October 2006, the Commission highlights the efforts of the State to adopt legislative measures and public policies to protect the rights of women against the impact of violence and discrimination caused by the armed conflict. It also recognizes the central role that Colombia’s Constitutional Court continues to play in delivering landmark decisions upholding the rights of women affected by the armed conflict. However, based on the information supplied by a variety of sources and sectors,[11] the Commission considers that the violence practiced by all the actors in the armed conflict continues to exact a heavier toll on Colombian women, thereby exacerbating the discrimination that they have historically suffered. The Commission notes with concern that the principal manifestations of violence against women identified in the 2006 report –physical, sexual and psychological violence; forced recruitment of women and girls; the social patterns of conduct imposed upon them, and forced displacement– continue to plague women of all ages, races and ethnic backgrounds in Colombia. The armed conflict also continues to take a particularly heavy toll on indigenous and Afro-Colombian women because of the multi-faceted discrimination that they have historically suffered.
11. The Commission observes that significant challenges remain if the recommendations it made in the 2006 Report are to be fully carried out. Based on the information received from various sources,[12] the Commission believes that one of the main challenges is to adopt a State policy that offers comprehensive and differentiated assistance to women victims of the armed conflict, in order to ensure that their rights are protected and restored[13]. This information indicates a series of problems with the configuration and implementation of a state policy that both prevents and punishes violence against women, while at the same time taking into account the particular risks and vulnerabilities that an armed conflict creates[14]. Similarly, in a number of its decisions the Constitutional Court of Colombia has called attention to the lack of differentiated approaches in national public policies that concern women affected by the conflict, displaced women in particular.[15]
12. The Commission acknowledges as advances the laws enacted to prevent and punish violence against women, such as Law 1275 of 2008 and Decree 1290 of 2008, which created a government program of reparations for victims of illegal armed groups. However, the Commission observes that there are still serious obstacles that make it difficult for women to have access to justice. It also finds critical shortcomings in the comprehensive assistance provided to victims and their effective protection from threats and the violence practiced by the actors in the armed conflict.[16] The Commission is disturbed by the lack of resources and the inability of key institutions, such as the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation, to act with due diligence in prosecuting the investigating cases of gender and sexual violence perpetrated by actors in the armed conflict. The Commission has also learned that, despite the considerable advances in the statistical data systems and records, those systems still do not accurately depict the situation of violence against women nationwide and locally, especially the scale of problems like sexual violence perpetrated by actors in the conflict[17].
13. As for the public services to address the needs of displaced women, the Commission points to Orders 092 and 237, issued by the Constitutional Court of Colombia in 2008 to protect the human rights of displaced women. However, the Commission has learned that there are problems in designing and implementing the thirteen programs that Colombia’s Constitutional Court ordered to protect these women’s rights, especially the fact that there are no measures to guarantee the involvement of civil society organizations[18].
14. The Commission also recognizes the State’s efforts to promote indigenous and Afro-Colombian women’s participation in civic and political affairs. Nevertheless, the Commission continues to observe the homogenous perspective inherent in public policies toward indigenous and Afro-Colombian women, among whom forced displacement and sexual violence take a disproportionately heavy toll. Therefore, it constitutes a challenge the adoption of integral public policies by the State to guarantee the rights of indigenous and Afro-Colombian women access to justice and the safeguard of their territories, when they are victims of acts of violence and dispossession by the actors of the armed conflict[19].
15. Although programs and measures have been taken to protect victims of and witnesses to the violence caused by the armed conflict, the Commission is troubled by the danger and vulnerability to which defenders of women’s human rights and civil society organizations that address women’s human rights are exposed[20]. The Commission observes that the domestic laws and State policies devised for such protection do not yet ensure that these human rights defenders and civil society organizations are effectively protected and thus able to carry on their daily mission. As for the truth, justice and reparation proceedings, the Commission acknowledges the creation and implementation of the Victim and Witness Protection Program in 2007 to enable enforcement of the Justice and Peace Law. However, the Commission continues to receive complaints to the effect that this program does not take account of the specific problems that women victims of violence encounter in the armed conflict. It also continues to receive complaints to the effect that in many cases of violence against women investigated in these proceedings, no one is ever punished. Therefore, in this follow-up report, the Commission is underscoring the recommendations it made to the State in the Commission’s 2006 Report.
III. MANIFESTATIONS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AGGRAVATED BY THE ARMED CONFLICT
16. In its 2006 Report, the Commission identified and examined four main manifestations of violence that especially affect women in the armed conflict: a) physical, psychological and sexual violence to “wound the enemy” with the objective of advancing their control of territories and resources; b) violence intended to forcibly displace women from their territory and thereby drive them from their homes, daily lives, community and family; c) sexual violence involved in the forced recruitment of women, intended to have them render sexual services to certain members of the guerrilla or paramilitary forces; and d) 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.[21] The Commission will now examine how these manifestations of violence have evolved during the period covered in this follow-up report and the State’s fulfillment of the recommendations made back in 2006 to prevent, punish and redress these serious violations of women’s rights.
A. Physical, psychological and sexual violence
17. In its 2006 Report, the Commission recommended that the State “adopt the necessary measures to prevent, sanction and eradicate acts of rape, sexual abuse and other forms of violence, torture and inhumane treatment by all combatants in the armed conflict” (Recommendation 47). However, the Commission is disturbed by the upsurge in violence against women in Colombia perpetrated by the actors in the armed conflict. The Commission continues to receive complaints of women being murdered by combatants in the armed conflict on both sides: the security forces and illegal armed groups.[22] Based on the figures of the Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal y Ciencias Forenses [National Institute of Legal and Forensic Sciences] (INMLCF), the Commission observes that from 2007 to 2008, the number of women killed in violence against discredited or fringe groups has increased.[23] The INMLCF studies for 2007 concluded that “with increasing frequency, women in urban and rural areas are being victimized by rival armed groups.”[24] Likewise, according to the figures of the INMLCF there has been a significant increase in the percentage of women’s deaths caused by the violence due to the armed conflict between the years 2006 and 2007, since 22% of women died in rural zones because of the violence due to the armed conflict and domestic violence in 2007, as opposed to 7% in 2006.[25] Furthermore, the civil society organizations report that since October 2006, the number of women murdered by armed assailants in Colombia has increased; the bodies show evidence of torture.[26]
18. The surge in violence committed against women in Colombia by those involved in the armed conflicted in rural areas of the country during the period under study, is a disturbing trend. The INMLCF’s statistical studies on crime in Colombia in 2007 found that “rural women are getting caught up in the fight that illegal agents and actors are waging against military forces: on the one hand, they are victims of the instrumental violence [violence waged to achieve an end], both by the security forces and by outlaw forces; on the other hand, they continue to be victims of domestic violence.”[27] The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has also voiced its concern to the State over the persistently high levels of poverty among women in rural areas and their persistent vulnerability to armed conflict.[28]
19. Another trend that is troubling to the Commission is the rate of sexual violence in the context of the armed conflict, as girls are the principal victims. According to the figures from the Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal y Ciencias Forenses [National Institute of Legal and Forensic Sciences] (INMLCF), in 2008 a total of 21,202 reports were prepared on medical examinations done on victims of sexual crimes in Colombia[29], which was 929 cases more than in 2007 (4.3%).[30] The INMLCF also reported that in 2008, 87% of the medical examinations were done on minors, mainly girls from 10 to 14 years of age (31.5% of the total).[31] According to the reports prepared by civil society organizations, “in 2007 and 2008, 126 medical examinations were done on victims of sexual crimes in which the alleged aggressor was an armed actor.”[32] In most cases, however, no information is available on the circumstances under which the events occurred.[33] From the information supplied by State and non-State agents in the period from 2007 to 2009, the Commission observes that the principal perpetrators of the sexual violence are the police, the military forces and the illegal actors in the armed conflict (guerrillas and paramilitary groups).[34] From this information, it can also be noted that sexual violence is for the most part committed during the course of military actions, armed clashes and guerrilla actions.
20. Similarly, as the Commission pointed out in its 2006 Report, cases of violence against women in Colombia’s armed conflict are underreported, and the official statistics available still do not capture the scale of the problem.[35] Based on the information received from civil society organizations and international agencies[36], the Commission observes that in the cases of sexual violence the underreporting continues. The Corporación Sisma Mujer has documented over 70 cases of sexual violence committed against women by armed combatants or against displaced women by civilian perpetrators between 2006 and 2009.[37] These cases have not been registered in the official statistics and in most of these cases it has been possible to verify that sexual violence “has a terrible impact and irreversibly scars its female victims and their communities.”[38] Hence, in the majority of the cases the women have suffered physical and psychological aftereffects of the sexual assaults, such as torture, threats, traumatic experiences (witnessing murders, other rapes, and sexual assaults), as well as unwanted pregnancies. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights continues to report cases of sexual violence against women and girls in Colombia, attributed to illegal armed groups, such as the case of the sexual assault of a 14-year old girl, who had been recruited by the FARC-EP in Palmira (Valle del Cauca).[39]
21. The reports of international human rights organizations also recount how sexual violence continues to be used by actors in the conflict as a weapon of war.[40] According to Amnesty International: “Women and girls are targeted by all parties to the conflict – to sow terror within communities and so make it easier for military control to be imposed; to force whole families to flee their homes and allow land to be appropriated; to wreak revenge on adversaries.”[41] The reports from civil society organizations also point out that all the actors in the armed conflict continue to engage in crimes of sexual, physical and psychological violence, following the patterns that the Commission identified in its 2006 Report.[42] After reviewing the cases reported between January 2006 and December 2007, the Colombian Commission of Jurists (CCJ) noted that:
a) Guerrilla and paramilitary groups committed acts of sexual violence as a strategy for war, and to sow terror in communities in the departments of Putumayo, Antioquia, Cauca and Arauca; b) Paramilitary groups committed acts of sexual violence against women leaders of campesino organizations and organizations of displaced persons in the department of Santander; c) Members of the military and police committed acts of sexual violence as an abuse of authority in the departments of Antioquia and Cauca; d) In Valle de Cauca, members of the military and police committed acts of sexual violence as a means of extracting information, while accusing the victim of having romantic relations with a member of the guerrilla movement. e) In some cases, the sexual violence was inflicted simultaneously with other human rights violations; for example, the victim was raped and then murdered, or was tortured, kidnapped and forcibly disappeared.[43]
22. Those reports also recount how paramilitary groups have continued to engage in sexual violence even during the demobilization processes, which means that the perpetrators continue to exercise control over the lives and physical person of the women affected by the armed conflict.[44] For its part, Colombia’s Constitutional Court acknowledged that “sexual violence against women is routine, widespread and systematic practice in Colombia’s armed conflict” and that this form of violence “goes virtually completely unpunished.”[45] The Constitutional Court of Colombia underscored the fact that “cases of sexual crimes committed within the context of the armed conflict where the victims are minors represent a disproportionately high percentage of the total number of known victims.”[46] However, based on the information received from state actors and civil society organizations, the Commission has established that between 2006 and 2009, women of all ages, races and ethnic backgrounds continued to be the victims of sexual violence.[47]
23. The Commission is also disturbed by the physical and sexual violence in certain regions of the country. In its Annual Report, published in 2009, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights wrote that: “In Chocó and Cauca, OHCHR Colombia received reports of cruel and degrading treatment against several women and girls by members of the army, who in some occasions resorted to sexual violence.”[48] The Commission, for its part, has received reports of particularly alarming acts of sexual violence committed against women and girls in Medellín.[49] Sexual exploitation, harassment and abuse of boys and girls have been reported, especially in communes 6 and 8 and in the San Pedro district; there are also reports of teenage girls being left pregnant or youths being forcibly displaced for refusing to have sexual relations with police in Commune 3 of La Cruz.[50]
24. The Commission therefore urgently reiterates its recommendation to the State to ensure that due diligence is practiced in the investigation, punishment and prevention of sexual violence against women as a result of the armed conflict. (Recommendation 48).[51] The State for its part has informed the IACHR that “violence against women as a social phenomenon of a multi-causal nature has prompted much analysis from the legal and sociological point of view in Colombia and all continents, to know the value of women as subjects of human rights in society; to be valued in the same sense by justice officials and the effective treatment to address the problem”, and has undertaken a series of actions to prevent that these cts remain in impunity, including the adoption of a “Strategic Plan for the Defense of the Rights of Women”, among other actions[52].
25. Similarly, the Commission has received notice of threats and others forms of physical, sexual and psicological violence against homosexual persons committed by the actors of the armed conflict. The Commission has known through the organization Colombia Diversa of the case of a couple of lesbian women in Tolima who, since 2006, have suffered threats against their lives and damages in their property by the paramilitary group AUC because of their sexual orientation.[53] The Commission is disturbed by these facts and urges the State to act with due diligence to prevent, sanction and eradicate violence and discrimination against women affected by the armed conflict (Recommendation 2) committed on the grounds of their sexual orientation.
B.
Forced displacement, the humanitarian crisis and female heads
26. The Commission has learned that since October 2006, forced displacement caused by the armed conflict continues to take a heavy toll on women, who still represent approximately half the displaced population.[54] State and non-State agencies alike have expressed concern over the increase in forced displacements in 2007 and 2008 and over the disproportionately heavy impact on women.[55] According to the Single Registry of Displaced Persons (RUPD), from 2006 to 2009 the number of displaced women was higher than the number of displaced men: at 648,295 women and 610,213 men.[56]
27. The Commission is troubled by the fact that a large percentage of households that have been forcibly displaced are still headed by women. According to the Single Registry of Displaced Persons (RUPD), as of August 31, 2009, the percentage of households registered as displaced and headed by women has gotten even higher.[57] For its part, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) observes that “More than 200,000 newly displaced people were registered by the Government in 2007 alone. Rural communities, ethnic minorities, households headed by women, older persons and youth have been hardest hit.”[58] The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has also told the State of its concern with regard to the situation of displaced women, “especially female heads of household [who] continue to be disadvantaged and vulnerable in regard to access to health, education, social services, employment and other economic opportunities, as well as at risk of all forms of violence.”[59]
28. As the Commission indicated in the 2006 Report, the Constitutional Court of Colombia has delivered a number of landmark rulings on the protection of displaced persons in Colombia, including women.[60] This trend continued into the period from 2007 to 2009 with the Court’s issuance of judgment C-278 of 2007, with respect to a demand filed by two citizens challenging the constitutionality of Law 387 of 1997 regarding the prevention and provision of services of displaced enforcement, as well as follow-up orders of Judment T-025 of 2004: Orders 092, 237 and 251 in 2008 and Orders 004, 005 and 006 in 2009.[61] Following up on Judgment T-025 of 2004,[62] in 2008 the Constitutional Court of Colombia issued Order 092 to protect the basic rights of women displaced by the armed conflict. In that ruling, the Constitutional Court held that forced displacement takes a disproportionate toll on women because of the severe gender risks cited as causes of displacement.[63]
29. This order of the Constitutional Court is of paramount importance in preventing the disproportionate impact that forced displacement has on women and in providing services to and protecting women who are victims of forced displacement. On the first point, the Court identified ten risks that women face as a result of the armed conflict, salient among them is the risk of sexual violence because that form of violence is so widespread and severe.[64] The Constitutional Court identified 18 “gender facets” of forced displacement that take a heavier toll on women. These facets include patterns of violence and discrimination, as well as specific problems unique to displaced women because forced displacement makes them all the more vulnerable.[65] The Constitutional Court held that displaced women were at greater risk of being exposed to physical and sexual violence. According to the figures cited in the order, “[o]n the question of physical violence, 44% of displaced women who are married or have a partner have experienced some type of physical violence at the hands of their husband or partner, a figure that is higher than the national average of 39%.”[66] Furthermore, 8.1% of displaced women reported having been raped by persons other than their husband or partner; 27% of these women were forced to have sexual relations with strangers.[67]
30. The Court therefore held that the authorities had a duty to prevent the disproportionate impact that forced displacement has on women and to guarantee the fundamental rights of displaced women.[68] It held that displaced women were entitled to the constitutional presumptions of heightened vulnerability and automatic extension of emergency humanitarian assistance. The presumption of heightened vulnerability means that officials with the National Displaced Persons Assistance System [Sistema Nacional de Atención a la Población Desplazada (SNAIPD)] are to assume that displaced women are in a vulnerable and defenseless predicament. These officials are to undertake, on their own initiative, an assessment to determine whether a displaced woman’s human rights have been violated; they are not to make unnecessary administrative or evidentiary demands of displaced women and are to provide, at their own initiative, the guidance and services needed so that these displaced women have access to the protection programs created on their behalf.[69] The presumption involving the automatic extension of emergency humanitarian relief “means that the relief must be comprehensive and must be provided in full and on a sustained basis, without the need to schedule or conduct verification visits; the presumption is that the heightened vulnerability of these persons justifies the extension until such time as the authorities verify that each woman, taken individually, has achieved full self-sufficiency and lives in decent conditions. It is then that the extension can be suspended, based on a reasoned decision.” [70]
31. The Constitutional Court also ordered that 13 programs be devised and implemented to protect the rights of displaced women. Those programs are described in Chapter V of this report. Finally, the Constitutional Court issued individual orders of protection for 600 displaced women in the country and referred 183 cases of sexual crimes committed against women within the context of the armed conflict to the Attorney General’s Office for immediate investigation.[71] While this decision represented meaningful progress in the protection of displaced women’s human rights, the Commission has learned of various problems with its implementation, which are described infra in Chapter V of this report which concerns the State’s response to the armed conflict’s impact on Colombian women.
32. Furthermore, in its 2006 Report the Commission said that the battle being waged by the combatants in the armed conflict to control or keep control over territory was one of the causes of women’s forced displacement.[72] The Commission observes that the armed conflict continues to exacerbate the discrimination that Colombian women have historically endured in terms of property ownership. For example, if the man of the family dies or disappears, his wife or partner faces an increased risk of being dispossessed of her land. According to organizations like Corporación Casa de la Mujer [Foundation for the Protection of Women] and Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres [Women’s Path to Peace], one of the main problems is that as a rule women do not have information regarding the borders of their property lie, do not have property titles or are unable to produce any other paperwork to support their property rights. They thus have no proof of ownership of those lands. Some women are uninformed about what the land and its products can mean in economic terms and thus face a greater threat of “losing their land when the various actors –armed and otherwise- try to create situations that will cause the women to be stripped of their land or driven off.”[73] The Commission has no knowledge of any measures taken that would represent a satisfactory State response to this problem.
C. Forced and voluntary recruitment of women and girls and the imposition of rules of conduct
33. Based on the information supplied by civil society organizations, the Commission observes that the actors in the armed conflict continue to engage in recruitment practices and impose rules of social conduct that violate women’s rights, but with disturbing twists[74]. It has been reported that paramilitary groups are still exerting power over the population.[75] Specifically, in the territories where they live, the demobilized elements (“desmovilizados”) have become the “first instance” for conflict resolution; these include disputes among “family members, neighbors and communities, and even disputes that come under the jurisdiction of the police, prosecutors and the courts.”[76] Similarly, from the information received, the Commission notes that the acts of violence committed by demobilized elements against women continue. The reports of civil society organizations establish that these acts take the form of “threats, forced displacement, rapes of women and girls, use and recruitment of children for criminal activities, sale, eviction and robbery of homes; imposition of rules of conduct and control of public areas by demanding protection money [vacunas] from street vendors and persons who engage in prostitution.”[77]
34. From the information gathered by Colombian civil society organizations in 2008 through observation missions and conversations with displaced women, the Commission was able to see that the process of demobilizing the paramilitary groups continues to exact a particularly heavy toll on women.[78] In addition to the various manifestations of violence against women which the Commission identified in its 2006 Report, civil society reports highlight new recruitment methods that these agents use to seduce young women, bring them into their organizations and get information from them[79]. Among these new recruitement “voluntary” methods are: offers of employment in surveillance services, on good terms; gifts such as articles that young people aspire to have (like brand-name clothing), and the chance to “fall in love with them of their own volition”.[80]
35. According to reports, new practices are being used to exercise sexual and social control of women, such as the “daily cut” charged by the paramilitary groups, which exploit women’s poverty and alienation so as to control their bodies and lives.[81] According to the women’s testimony the “daily cut” is charged by the demobilized paramilitary who, taking advantage of women’s poverty, lend large sums of money in camps for displaced persons and then charge a daily percentage. If the women are unable to repay their debt, they are required to hand over their daughters in exchange for the payment; women have even been murdered for refusing to hand over their daughters.[82] Because of these practices, women are forced to move elsewhere; the family is broken up; women become the head of household and have to protect themselves and their families. The Commission has also learned that in some regions of the country, paramilitary groups continue to murder women who work in prostitution because they consider them to be “undesirables”. According to Amnesty International, “[a]t least five women sex workers were killed, reportedly by paramilitaries, in Putumayo Department in 2007.”[83]
36. The civil society organizations also told the Commission that boys, girls and youth are being impressed, against their will, into joining armed groups. This type of impressment is being practiced by new paramilitary groups that were not party to the negotiations with the Government, by groups of paramilitaries who have taken up arms again, and by guerrillas.[84] The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia wrote in its latest report that illegal actors in the armed conflict continue to recruit children and commit crimes of sexual violence against women and girls.[85] Amnesty International has reported that paramilitary groups, “together with criminal gangs, have abducted and raped women and girls in various parts of Colombia [and] subsequently forced these women and girls to work as prostitutes.”[86] The Commission has no knowledge of effective measures implemented by the State to prevent, investigate and punish these acts of violence against Colombian women, adolescents and girls. Hence, the Commission is reasserting the recommendations it made to the State to the effect that it adopt an integral State policy to address the specific impact of the armed conflict on women and that it implement and strengthen measures to comply with the duty to act with due diligence to prevent, sanction and eradicate these acts of violence against women (Recommendations 1 and 2).
37. To confront the problem of trafficking against persons, the State highlights the implementation of the National Strategy to Confront Trafficking against Persons (Law 985 of 2005 – Act 4786 of 2008), through which the State implements a series of “measures of prevention; protection and support to victims; the strengthening of the judicial investigation and police action; and of international cooperation.” [87]
IV. MULTIPLE DISCRIMINATION AGAINST AFRO-COLOMBIAN AND INDIGENOUS WOMEN 38. In its 2006 Report, the Commission found that the situation of indigenous and Afro-Colombian women was particularly dire because of the multi-faceted discrimination that they experience by reason of their sex, race, ethnic background and economic condition. This situation is becoming all the worse amid the armed conflict.[88] The Commission is troubled by the fact that at the present time, indigenous and Afro-Colombian women continue to be particularly prone to acts of violence and discrimination in the context of Colombia’s armed conflict. Here, Oxfam International has written that: “Within sectors of the population, Afro-Colombian and indigenous women are most vulnerable to sexual violence given the triple discrimination that they suffer due to their gender, their ethnicity and the poverty in which they live.”[89]
39. The international agencies that are part of the United Nations system have also expressed concern over the particularly serious situation of indigenous and Afro-Colombian women. On his visit to Colombia in July 2009, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples said that he was concerned over the situation of indigenous women affected by the armed conflict and had urged the Government to strengthen its assistance services programs to more effectively answer these needs.[90]
40. The Commission observes that the armed conflict continues to compound the multi-faceted discrimination that indigenous women suffer –the discrimination suffered because they are indigenous and the discrimination they suffer because they are women-. A report prepared by the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) on the human rights of indigenous women states the following: “The truth is that indigenous women in Colombia are doubly impacted by the conflict and by the systematic violation of human rights; being at once both indigenous and female means that the effects and use of women in the war inflicts differentiated harm upon their personal life and their community life.”[91] According to ONIC’s figures, between 2002 and 2009, more than 1,000 indigenous people were murdered. The peoples most affected were the Nasa, Wayúu, Kankuamo, Awá and Embera Chamí. Roughly 15% (151 victims) were women and children.[92] It was also reported that during that same period, 187 indigenous women were the victims of sexual violence and torture.[93]
41. The Commission is disturbed by the fact that the sexual violence in the context of the armed conflict is taking a particularly heavy toll on indigenous women. As the Constitutional Court of Colombia wrote, the impact of the sexual violence deriving from the armed conflict is compounded in the case of indigenous women.[94] In Order 004 of 2009, which the Constitutional Court issued to protect the rights of indigenous persons and peoples displaced by the armed conflict, it observed that forced prostitution and sexual violence of indigenous women and teens are tactics of war used mainly by illegal armed groups and that in many of the cases of sexual violence that the Court reported to the competent authorities, the victims were indigenous women, girls, and teenage girls nationwide.[95] According to the information received from the civil society organizations, “by 2006 the number of cases of sexual abuse of indigenous girls by men belonging to the Batallones de Alta Montaña, the Counterinsurgency Police and other military and police units had increased.”[96] The Commission is also disturbed by the fact the sexual violence being perpetrated against indigenous women by actors in the armed conflict continues to be “an unspoken truth”, as the women do not report the crimes for fear of being stigmatized and rejected in their own communities.[97] Therefore, the Commission is again recommending to the State that it devise and adopt policies in the area of justice that take into account the situation of indigenous women (Recommendation 37).
42. The Commission also notes that since 2006, indigenous and Afro-Colombian women have been particularly hard hit by forced displacement. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination recently expressed its concern to the State that “women and children of Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities are particularly vulnerable among the displaced population and lack effective and differentiated assistance and protection.”[98] Similarly, in Order 092 of 2008, the Constitutional Court of Colombia wrote that “indigenous and Afro-descendent women are, among displaced women, that segment of the population that has been hardest hit by the crimes, the injustices and the inequities inherent in the armed violence and forced displacement.”[99] The Commission would therefore underscore its recommendation that the State “design and adopt culturally relevant policies, with the participation of indigenous and Afro-Colombian women, to protect displaced women from these groups” (Recommendation 41).
43. As the Commission wrote in its 2006 Report, forced displacement is one of the worst effects that the conflict has on Afro-Colombian and indigenous women because of the relationship that they have with their land and their communities.[100] The Commission observes that Afro-Colombian and indigenous women continue to be particularly hard hit by forced displacement, as they are dispossessed of their ancestral lands and separated from their communities. The reports from civil society organizations indicate that when the actors in the armed conflict displace indigenous women, “the impact the latter suffer is disproportionately severe […]; they are exposed to sexual abuse and exploitation, are reduced to begging, and are subjected to exploitation in jobs such as domestic work and the like, not to speak of the subhuman conditions in which they live in the slums surrounding the cities.”[101] The Commission is therefore reminding the State of the recommendation it made to the effect that the State must respect and protect effectively the ancestral lands of its peoples (Recommendation 44). [1] In its observations to this report, the State of Colombia states that the concept of “armed conflict” is not applicable to the case of Colombia because: “It cannot be stated that in Colombia there is a dictatorship or a constitutional limit that challenges the exercise of key rights, since the Political Constitution of 1991 is centered in the defense of individual liberties and the citizen guarantees”; “Colombia is a Republic founded in democracy, where there are separate powers and their balancing, key respect for the freedom of the press and the granting of full guarantees to the opposition”; “The terrorist actions of some illegal armed groups that are financed through sources such as drug trafficking and the kidnappning of members of the civil population as well as other criminal activities, have threatened and weakend the national democracy. This terrorist threat is to blame for multiple forms of conduct that have been very prejudicial to those inhabitants of the Colombian territory, such as the displacement of civilians for fear of their actions or the use of anti-person mines”; “The Colombian state in multiple occasions has manifested publically, reiterating its total rejection of this type of terrorist conduct.” Therefore, “in summary, these groups which have terroritst and self-profitting motives are illegal and illegitimate, and therefore their actions cannot be characterized as part of an “armed conflict”. See, Observations from the State of Colombia to the Draft Follow-Up Report on the Implementation of the Recommendations in the report “Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia”, Note DDH No. 70141/3300, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, December 23, 2009, p. 8 (hereinafter “Observations from the State of Colombia to this report”). [2] The following civil society organizations participated in the hearing: Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres [Women’s Path to Peace]; Casa de la Mujer [Foundation for the Protection of Women]; Mesa de Trabajo Mujer y Conflicto [Working Group on Women and Armed Conflict] and the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL). Present for the State were the Ambassador of Colombia to the OAS; the National Director of the Public Prosecution Offices; the National Director of the Technical Investigations Corps and the Director of the Presidential Program on Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law. [3] The hearing was requested by the Coalición contra la vinculación de niños, niñas y jóvenes al conflicto armado en Colombia (Acción Colectiva de Objetores y Objetoras de Conciencia en Bogotá) [Coalition against the involvement of children and youth in the armed conflict in Colombia (Collective Action of Conscientious Objectors in Bogota)]; Benposta Nación de Muchachos; Comité Andino de Servicios [Andean Services Committee]; the Growing Together Foundation; the Two Worlds Foundation; the Foundation for Education and Development (FED); JUSTAPAZ; the Jesuit Refugee Service ; Taller de Vida; Terre des Hommes Deutschland, and the Center for Justice and International Law. The Coalition and CEJIL participated in the hearing. [4] The Mesa de Trabajo Mujer y Conflicto Armado [Working Group on Women and Armed Conflict] is composed of the following organizations: Asociación Nacional de Mujeres Campesinas, Negras e Indígenas de Colombia (ANMUIC) [National Association of Campesino, Black and Indigenous Women of Colombia]; the Campesino Women’s Program of the Asociación Nacional de Usuarios Campesinos-Unidad y Reconstrucción (ANUC-UR) [National Association of Campesiono Users- Unity and Reconstruction], Colectivo de Mujeres Excombatientes [Organization of Former Women Combatents], Colectivo Mujeres al Derecho [Women for Rights]; Comisión Colombiana de Juristas (CCJ) [Colombian Commission of Jurists], Corporación Casa de la Mujer [Foundation for the Protection of Women]; Corporación Casa Amazonia [Amazonia House Foundation]; Corporación de Apoyo a Comunidades Populares (CODACOP) [Grassroots Communities Support Foundation]; Corporación Humanas Centro Regional de Derechos Humanos y Justicia de Género [Humanas Foundation Regional Center for Human Rights and Gender Justice]; Corporación Opción Legal [Legal Option Foundation]; Corporación para la Vida “Mujeres que Crean [Women Who Create]” [“Women Who Create” Foundation for Life; Foundation for Education and Development (FED); Corporación Sisma Mujer; Fundación Mujer y Futuro; the Latin American Institute for Alternative Legal Services (ILSA); the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF); Liga de Mujeres Desplazadas [League of Displaced Women]; the Organización Femenina Popular (OFP) [Grassroots Women’s Organization]; Women and Culture Program of the Organización Nacional Indígena Colombiana (ONIC) [National Indigenous Organization of Colombia] ; Grupo de Mujeres AFRODES [AFRODES Women’s Group] and the Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres [Women’s Path to Peace]. [5] The Mesa de Sequimiento del Auto 092 –justicia en violencia sexual [Working Group to Monitor Compliance with Order 092 – Justicia and sexual violence] is composed of the following organizations: the Consultoría para los Derechos Humanos y el Desplazamiento (CODHES) [Human Rights and Displacement Office]; Corporación Casa de la Mujer [Foundation for the Protection of Women]; Comisión Colombiana de Juristas [Colombian Commission of Jurists]; Iniciativa de Mujeres por la Paz [Colombian Women’s Pro-Peace Initiative]; Centro de Estudios Derechos, Justicia y Sociedad [Center for Studies in the Law, Justice and Society]; Colectivo de Abogados José Alvear Restrepo [José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Group]; the Liga de Mujeres Desplazadas [League of Displaced Women]; Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres [Women’s Path to Peace]; Mesa de Trabajo Mujer y Conflicto Armado [Working Group on Women and Armed Conflict] ; and the Corporación Sisma Mujer. [6] The Mesa de Seguimiento del Auto 092 –programas y políticas públicas [Working Group to Monitor Compliance with Order 092 – public policy and programs] is composed of the following: the Grupo de Mujeres AFRODES [AFRODES Women’s Group]; Corporación Casa de la Mujer [Foundation for the Protection of Women]; Corporación de Investigación y Acción Social y Económica (CIASE) [Social and Economic Research and Action Foundation]; the Latin American and the Caribbean Committee for the Defense of Women’s Rights (CLADEM); Consultoría para los Derechos Humanos y el Desplazamiento (CODHES) [Human Rights and Displacement Office]; Corporación Sisma Mujer- Observatorio para los Derechos Humanos en Colombia [Observatory for Human Rights in Colombia]; Coordinación Nacional de Desplazados [National Office of Displaced Persons]; Iniciativa de Mujeres por la Paz (IMP) [Colombian Women’s Pro-Peace Initiative; Liga de las Mujeres Desplazadas [League of Displaced Women]; Mesa de Trabajo Mujer y Conflicto Armado [Working Group on Women and Armed Conflict]; Organización Nacional Indígena Colombiana (ONIC) [National Indigenous Organization of Colombia]; Corporación Opción Legal [Legal Option Foundation]; Red Nacional de Mujeres Desplazadas [National Network of Displaced Women], and Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres [Women’s Path to Peace]. [7] IACHR, Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia, OEA/Ser.L/V/II. Doc. 67, 2006, para. 45. [8] IACHR, Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia, OEA/Ser.L/V/II. Doc. 67, 2006, para. 46. [9] IACHR, Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia, OEA/Ser.L/V/II. Doc. 67, 2006, para. 58-60. [10] IACHR, Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia, OEA/Ser.L/V/II. Doc. 67, 2006, para. 149-236. [11] Centro de Estudios de Derecho, Justicia y Sociedad (DeJusticia) [Center for Studies in Law, Justice and Society], CODHES, the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers Group, the Colombian Commission of Jurists, the Corporación Sisma Mujer, the Iniciativa de Mujeres Colombianas por la Paz (IMP) [Colombian Women’s Pro Peace Initiative], the Liga de Mujeres Desplazadas [League of Displaced Women], the Mesa Mujer y Conflicto Armado [Working Group on Women and Armed Conflict], and the Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres [Women’s Path to Peace] which form the Mesa de Seguimiento al cumplimiento de las órdenes emitidas por la Corte Constitucional en el Auto 092 [Working Group to Monitor Compliance with the directives given in Constitutional Court Order 092] (hereinafter the Working Group to Monitor Compliance with Constitutional Court Order 092, Second Follow-up Report on Orders 092 and 036 of 2009 in connection with the confidential appendix of 183 acts of sexual violence (2009); Corporación Sisma Mujer, Mujeres en Conflicto: Violencia Sexual y Paramilitarismo [Women in Conflict, Sexual Violence and Paramilitarism], Bogotá, Colombia, 2009; Comisión Colombiana de Juristas [Colombian Commission of Jurists], Camino al Despojo y a la Impunidad [Path to Predation and Impunity], Bogotá, Colombia, 2007; Mesa de Trabajo Mujer y Conflicto Armado [Working Group on Women and Armed Conflict], Informe de Seguimiento a las Recomendaciones contenidas en el Informe “Las Mujeres frente a la violencia y la discriminación derivadas del conflicto armado en Colombia” de la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos [Follow-up Report on the Recommendations Contained in the Report on “Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia” prepared by the IACHR], September 18, 2009; Corporación Casa de la Mujer [Foundation for the Protection of Women] and Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres [Women’s Path to Peace], Follow-up to the Report of the IACHR “Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia,” Bogota, Colombia, September 2009. Received at the IACHR on September 18, 2009; Cecilia Barraza and Diana Ester Guzmán, “Proceso de reparación para las mujeres víctimas de violencia en el marco del conflicto armado colombiano” [“Reparations process for women victims of violence in the context of the Colombian armed conflict], Sin Tregua, 2008; Report by Oxfam International, Sexual violence in Colombia, instrument of war, September 9, 2009; Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Concluding comments of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women: Colombia, CEDAW/C/COL/CO.6, 37th session (2007); United Nations, Human Rights Council, Annual Report of the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights, Report of the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Colombia. Tenth Session, A/HRC/10/032 (2009); Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, Report in connection with the hearing titled “Discrimination and violence against women caused by the armed conflict, received at the Commission on October 27, 2008 [hereinafter the State’s First Report]; Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, Report on the Follow-up to the recommendations in the report “Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia,” received at the IACHR on September 23, 2009 [hereinafter the State’s Second Report]; Corporación Casa de la Mujer [Foundation for the Protection of Women], Mujeres que Crean [Women Who Create], Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres [Women’s Path to Peace] and Vamos Mujer, Informe de la violencia sexual y los feminicidios en el contexto del conflicto armado colombiano, 2003-2007 [Report on sexual violence and feminicide in Colombia’s armed conflict, 2003-2007], document presented to the IACHR at Hearing No. 16, Discrimination and violence against women as a result of the armed conflict in Colombia. IACHR. 133rd session, October 23, 2008. [12] See note 10, supra. [13] The State establishes in its observations to the present report that “this affirmation fails to acknowledge the efforts and advances regarding this issue and reiterates that like no other country in the Americas, it has adopted an important number of public policies oriented towards confronting all forms of violence that affect women either in public or private spaces or that are provoked by illegal armed actors, state forces or civilians.” The State, for example, mentions policies such as the Policy for Democratic Security; the Human Rights Policy of the Ministry of National Defense; the National Strategy to Erradicate Trafficiking against Persons; the National Policy to Offer an Integral Attention to the Displaced Population and the Affirmative Policy for Women Builders of the Peace and Development, among others. The State refers to these polices as “public policies with the goal of eradicating different types of violence against women independent of the space in which it is produced with serious effects at the individual and social level”. See, Observations from the State of Colombia to this report, pp. 9-11. [14] Regarding this statement, the State observes that “Law 1257 of 2008, which provides for actions related to the training, prevention and sanction of different forms of violence and discrimination against women is also a policy of integral attention to women, that seeks to prevent all forms of violence against women, including victims of the violence aggravated and generated by illegal armed groups.” Observations from the State of Colombia to this report, p. 11. [15] Constitutional Court of Colombia, Orders 092 of 2008 and 237 of 2008. Regarding this observation from the IACHR, the State responds that “throughout this report the Commission tends to exclude the Constitutional Court as part of the Colombian state and describes it as remote from the efforts that as a State are implemented from different sectors to solve the problem of violence against women in general and those who have been displaced as a result or not of the violence exacerbated and worsened by illegal armed groups. The sentences of the Constitutional Court of Colombia about the unconstitutional state of things should be interpreted as State efforts to recognize this situation and act accordingly.” Observations from the State of Colombia to this report, p. 12. [16] Regarding this statement from the IACHR, the State notes with concern “that it does not take into consideration the advances in regards to the institutional offer to obtain an adequate access to justice for victims of violence against women through the Family Commissions, Prosecutor’s Offices, Justice Houses (64 houses at the national level), Centers for the Integral Attention of Victims of Domestic Violence (CAVIF), Centers for the Integral Attention of Victims of Sexual Violence (CAIVAS), free legal aid, special jurisdiction for the family, among others”. The State also reiterates that “specific programs have been designed to elimitate the obstacles and barriers that women face to access justice, truth and reparation, specific programs to offer an integral attention to victims which include education, housing, the generation of income, psychosocial attention, etc., and specific programs for the effective protection of women in relation to the threats posed by the violence exercised by illegal armed actors, all designed in the framework of the policy for the integral attention of the displaced population.” Observations from the State of Colombia to this report, p. 12. [17] Regarding this affirmation, the State observes that the “National Institute for Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (hereinafter “INMLCF”), in collaboration with the CINEP is undertaking an investigation to verify whether sexual violence is a common practice of war in Colombia. However, the results will not be obtained until 2010. Additionally, in regards to the INMLCF during the year 2009, it has worked in the revision of the SIVELCE (System of Epidemiology Monitoring of External Wounds) and the design of indicators that increase the awareness of gender-based violence, especially the one faced by displaced women.” See, Observations from the State of Colombia to this report, p. 13. [18] About this paragraph, “the State expresses concern over the fact that the Commission only highlights the challenges that the national government has faced to design the programs established by Order 092 of the Colombia Constitutional Court, and does not recognize the important advances that the government has achieved in the design and implementation of the 13 programs; in the incorporation of a gender-specific focus throughout all of the integral policy of attention of those displaced; and the existence of a directive to offer an integral attention to the displaced population with a gender-specific focus”. See, Observations from the State of Colombia to this report, p. 14 [19] Regarding this paragraph, the State of Colombia is grateful to the Commission “for recognizing and promoting the civil and political participation of women, especially indigenous and afrocolombian women, taking into account the great ethnic diversity in our country. However, it is important that the Commission highlights that this participation has specific results, such as the adoption of actions to design policies sensitive from an ethnic perspective, such as: Specific Plan for the Prevention, Protection and Attention to Afrocolombian communities; the Ethnic Route for the protection of Land; Plans to Safeguard and Life Plans of the Indigenous Peoples, among others”. See, Observations from the State of Colombia to this report, p. 19. [20] Regarding the protection of human rights defenders, the government of Colombia states that “it has been verified with the statistics that have surfaced in the follow-up to the Democratic Security Policy regarding the protection of life and personal integrity and the increase of persons linked with the Protection Program, that more protection guarantees exist for this population, which have decreased the number of victims, specially, female victims”. See, Observations from the State of Colombia to this report, p. 15. [21] IACHR, Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia, OEA/Ser.L/V/II. Doc. 67, 2006, paragraph 48. [22] Corporación Casa de la Mujer [Foundation for the Protection of Women], Mujeres que Crean [Women Who Create], Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres [Women’s Path to Peace] and Vamos Mujer, Informe de la violencia sexual y los feminicidios en el contexto del conflicto armado colombiano, 2003-2007 [Report on sexual violence and feminicide in Colombia’s armed conflict, 2003-2007] (2008); Document presented to the IACHR at Hearing No. 16, Discrimination and violence against women as a result of the armed conflict in Colombia, IACHR, 133rd session, October 23, 2008. [23] The records show that in 2007 150 women died as a result of sociopolitical violence; of these 72 were listed as having been killed in military action, 25 in guerrilla action, 30 as a result of an armed encounter; 15 in paramilitary actions; 7 murders were blamed on discredited or fringe groups. The figures for 2008 list 100 women having died as a result of the sociopolitical violence, the principal causes being: military action (43); armed encounter (29); paramilitary actions (2), guerrilla action (10) and discredited or fringe groups (9). See Instituto de Medicinal Legal y Forense [National Institute of Legal and Forensic Sciences], Forensis, Data for Life. 2007, Colombia, p. 81; Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal y Ciencias Forenses [National Institute of Legal and Forensic Sciences], Forensis, Data for Life, 2008, Colombia, p.33. [24] Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal y Ciencias Forenses [National Institute of Legal and Forensic Medicine], Forensis, Data for Life, 2007, Colombia p. 84. [25] Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal y Ciencias Forenses [National Institute of Legal and Forensic Sciences], Forensis, Data for Life, Colombia, 2007, p. 83. Regarding the statistics from this National Institute, the State claims that “regardless of whether the numbers are disaggregated as urban or rural, violence against women in the context of the armed unrest increased during the year 2007, with absolute numbers it increased from 103 to 150 cases, however, this stands in contrast with the reduction of the homicides of women, since in that period there were 26 less.” See, Observations from the State of Colombia to this report, p. 17.
[26] IACHR, Hearing on Discrimination and violence against women as a result of the armed conflict in Colombia, 133rd session, October 23, 2008. [27] See, Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal y Ciencias Forenses [National Institute of Legal and Forensic Sciences], Forensis, Data for Life, 2007, Colombia p. 83. [28] Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women: Concluding comments of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women: Colombia, CEDAW/C/COL/CO.6, 37th session (2007), paragraph 30. [29] With respect to this statistic, the State claims that “the same corresponds to the total number of forensic evaluations, which include the cases of sexual abuse and assault, and not only to the cases within the framework of the armed conflict”. See, Observations from the State of Colombia to this report, p. 18. [30] Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal y Ciencias Forenses [National Institute of Legal and Forensic Medicine], Delitos Sexuales en Colombia, 2008 [Sexual Crimes in Colombia, 2008], p.158. [31] Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal y Ciencias Forenses [National Institute of Legal and Forensic Medicine], Delitos Sexuales en Colombia. 2008 [Sexual Crimes in Colombia, 2008], p.159. [32] Corporación Casa de la Mujer [Foundation for the Protection of Women] and Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres [Women’s Path to Peace], Follow-up to the Report of the IACHR “Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia,” Bogota, Colombia, September 2009. Received at the IACHR on September 18, 2009, p.5. [33] Corporación Casa de la Mujer [Foundation for the Protection of Women] and Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres [Women’s Path to Peace], Follow-up to the Report of the IACHR “Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia,” Bogota, Colombia, September 2009. Received at the IACHR on September 18, 2009, p. 5. Regarding this statement from the Commission, the State observes that “according to the information available, the National Institute of Legal and Forensic Sciences (hereinafter “INMLCF”), during the period 2007 and 2008, the number of sexual violence cases (regardless of the victim’s gender) that has as an aggressor a member of the armed foces, the police or an illegal group is of 115 cases. It is important to clarify that the expression “In most cases, however, no information is available on the circumstances under which the events occurred”, does not refer only to cases of presumed sexual violence in the context of the “armed conflict”. This is a generalization that should be made regarding all medical examinations done on victims of sexual crimes in Colombia”. The State observes as well: “in conformity with the analysis of the INMLCF regading sexual violence cases in Colombia, most of the sexual violence cases are a domestic problem – of the same or more importance and impact- and not the result of the actions from the military and police forces. Even though they report cases as responsible, they do not represent the main proportion”. See, Observations from the State of Colombia to this report, p. 18. [34] Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal y Ciencias Forenses [National Institute of Legal and Forensic Sciences], Forensis, Data for Life, 2008, p.160; Corporación Casa de la Mujer [Foundation for the Protection of Women] and Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres [Women’s Path to Peace], Follow-up to the Report of the IACHR “Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia,” Bogota, Colombia, September 2009. Received at the IACHR on September 18, 2009. Mesa de Trabajo Mujer y Conflicto Armado [Working Group on Women and Armed Conflict], Informe de Seguimiento a las Recomendaciones contenidas en el Informe “Las Mujeres frente a la violencia y la discriminación derivadas del conflicto armado en Colombia” de la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos [Follow-up Report on the Recommendations Contained in the Report on “Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia” prepared by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights], September 18, 2009; Corporación Sisma Mujer, Seguimiento sobre el cumplimiento de las recomendaciones del Informe “Las Mujeres frente a la violencia y discriminación derivadas del conflicto armado en Colombia” [Follow-up on fulfillment of the recommendations contained in the report on “Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia”], September 18, 2009. Regarding this observation, the State claims that “the Magazine Forensis 2008 of the INMLCF highlights that during the year 2008, 21.202 medical examinations were practiced on sexual violence victims, being the presumed aggressors: i. Unknown aggressor, 3,652 cases; ii. Neighbors, 1,925 cases; iii. Stepfathers, 1,780 cases; iv. Known without any acquaintance: 1,766 cases; v. Friends, 1,638 casess; Father, 1,537 cases; uncle/aunt 931 cases, etc. On the other hand, the registered cases by the police were 31, by armed foces 16, other guerrillas 8; FARC 6; paramilitaries 5; ELN 1 cases registered”. Therefore, “all of the above evidences that it does not correspond to the reality of the problem to target the Colombia armed forces as the main perpetrators of the sexual violence, when the reported cases that involve the public forces represent 0.2% of the registered statistic”. See, Observations from the State of Colombia to this report, p. 18. [35] IACHR, Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia, OEA/Ser.L/V/II. Doc. 67, 2006, paragraph 63. Regarding this statement, the State observes that “regarding the INMLCF it reiterates that during the year 2009 the State has worked in the revision of the SIVELCE (System of Epidemiologic Vigilance of External Wounds) and the design of indicators, to highlight gender-based violence and specially cases of displaced women. The training of experts of the Institute in 2010 will have a special emphasis in the recognition of the gender-based violence and the displacement and its awareness to be addressed from a forensic standpoint.” See, Observations from the State of Colombia to this report, p. 20. [36] Corporación Sisma Mujer, Seguimiento sobre el cumplimiento de las recomendaciones del Informe “Las Mujeres frente a la violencia y discriminación derivadas del conflicto armado en Colombia [Follow-up on fulfillment of the recommendations contained in the report on “Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia”], September 18, 2009; Corporación Casa de la Mujer [Foundation for the Protection of Women] and Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres [Women’s Path to Peace], Follow-up to the Report of the IACHR “Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia,” Bogota, Colombia, September 2009. Received at the IACHR on September 18, 2009; Working Group to Monitor Compliance with Constitutional Court Order 092, Second Follow-up Report on Orders 092 and 036 of 2009 in connection with the confidential appendix of 183 acts of sexual violence (2009); Corporación Casa de la Mujer [Foundation for the Protection of Women], Mujeres que Crean [Women Who Create], Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres [Women’s Path to Peace] and Vamos Mujer, Informe de la violencia sexual y los feminicidios en el contexto del conflicto armado colombiano, 2003-2007 [Report on sexual violence and feminicide in Colombia’s armed conflict, 2003-2007]; Mesa de Trabajo Mujer y Conflicto Armado [Working Group on Women and Armed Conflict] and the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), Follow-up to the Report on Discrimination and Violence against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia, Documents presented to the IACHR at Hearing No. 16, Discrimination and violence against women as a result of the armed conflict in Colombia, IACHR, 133rd Session, October 23, 2008; Corporación Sisma Mujer, Mujeres en Conflicto: Violencia Sexual y Paramilitarismo [Women in Conflict, Sexual Violence and Paramilitarism], Bogotá, Colombia, 2009; United Nations, Human Rights Council, Annual Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and Reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and of the Secretary General, Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Colombia, Tenth Session, A/HRC/10/032 (2009). [37] Corporación Sisma Mujer, Seguimiento sobre el cumplimiento de las recomendaciones del Informe “Las Mujeres frente a la violencia y discriminación derivadas del conflicto armado en Colombia,” [Follow-up on fulfillment of the recommendations contained in the report on “Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia”], September 18, 2009, p.4. [38] Corporación Sisma Mujer, Seguimiento sobre el cumplimiento de las recomendaciones del Informe “Las Mujeres frente a la violencia y discriminación derivadas del conflicto armado en Colombia” [Follow-up on fulfillment of the recommendations contained in the report on “Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia”], September 18, 2009, p.4 [39] United Nations, Human Rights Council, Annual Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and Reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and of the Secretary General, Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Colombia, Tenth Session, A/HRC/10/032 (2009), para. 33.
[40] Report by Oxfam International, Sexual violence in Colombia, instrument of war, September 9, 2009, p.2. [41] Amnesty International, ‘Leave Us in Peace!’ Targeting Civilians in Colombia’s Internal Armed Conflict, 2008, p. 45. [42] Corporación Sisma Mujer, Seguimiento sobre el cumplimiento de las recomendaciones del Informe “Las Mujeres frente a la violencia y discriminación derivadas del conflicto armado en Colombia [Follow-up on fulfillment of the recommendations contained in the report on “Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia”], September 18, 2009; Corporación Casa de la Mujer [Foundation for the Protection of Women] and Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres [Women’s Path to Peace], Follow-up to the Report of the IACHR “Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia,” Bogota, Colombia, September 2009. Received at the IACHR on September 18, 2009; Working Group to Monitor Compliance with Constitutional Court Order 092, Second Follow-up Report on Orders 092 and 036 of 2009 in connection with the confidential appendix of 183 acts of sexual violence (2009); Corporación Casa de la Mujer [Foundation for the Protection of Women], Mujeres que Crean [Women Who Create], Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres [Women’s Path to Peace] and Vamos Mujer, Informe de la violencia sexual y los feminicidios en el contexto del conflicto armado colombiano, 2003-2007 [Report on sexual violence and feminicide in Colombia’s armed conflict, 2003-2007]; Mesa de Trabajo Mujer y Conflicto Armado [Working Group on Women and Armed Conflict] and the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), Follow-up to the Report on Discrimination and Violence against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia, Documents presented to the IACHR at Hearing No. 16, Discrimination and violence against women as a result of the armed conflict in Colombia, IACHR, 133rd Session, October 23, 2008; Corporación Sisma Mujer, Mujeres en Conflicto: Violencia Sexual y Paramilitarismo [Women in Conflict, Sexual Violence and Paramilitarism], Bogotá, Colombia, 2009. [43] Mesa de Trabajo Mujer y Conflicto Armado [Working Group on Women and Armed Conflict] and the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), Follow-up to the Report on Discrimination and Violence against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia, Document presented to the IACHR at Hearing No. 16, Discrimination and violence against women as a result of the armed conflict in Colombia, IACHR, 133rd session, October 23, 2008, p. 8-9. Regarding this observation, the State claims that “it is important to highlight that the INMLCF has implemented trainings and dissemination activities to its expert doctors on the Istambul Protocol since the year 2007, where emphasis is placed on aspects related to the search for sexual violence and torture signs, independent and related. Additionally, the IMMLCF is also entrusted in training the experts that perform the medico-legal autopsies, which is included in the training plans for 2010”. See, Observations from the State of Colombia to this report, p. 20. [44] Corporación Casa de la Mujer [Foundation for the Protection of Women], Mujeres que Crean [Women Who Create], Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres [Women’s Path to Peace] and Vamos Mujer, Informe de la violencia sexual y los feminicidios en el contexto del conflicto armado colombiano, 2003-2007 [Report on sexual violence and feminicide in Colombia’s armed conflict, 2003-2007] (2008), document presented to the IACHR at Hearing No.16, Discrimination and violence against women as a result of the armed conflict in Colombia, IACHR, 133rd session, October 23, 2008; Corporación Sisma Mujer, Seguimiento sobre el cumplimiento de las recomendaciones del Informe “Las Mujeres frente a la violencia y discriminación derivadas del conflicto armado en Colombia,” [Follow-up on fulfillment of the recommendations contained in the report on “Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia”], September 18, 2009; Working Group to Monitor Compliance with Constitutional Court Order 092, Second Follow-up Report on Orders 092 and 036 of 2009 in connection with the confidential appendix of 183 acts of sexual violence (2009). [45] Constitutional Court of Colombia, Order 092 of 2008, 1.1.1. [46] Constitutional Court of Colombia, Order 092 of 2008, III.1.1.4. [47] Corporación Casa de la Mujer [Foundation for the Protection of Women], Mujeres que Crean [Women Who Create], Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres [Women’s Path to Peace] and Vamos Mujer, Informe de la violencia sexual y los feminicidios en el contexto del conflicto armado colombiano, 2003-2007 [Report on sexual violence and feminicide in Colombia’s armed conflict, 2003-2007], Document presented to the IACHR at Hearing No. 16, Discrimination and violence against women as a result of the armed conflict in Colombia, IACHR, 133rd sesión, October 23, 2008; Corporación Sisma Mujer, Seguimiento sobre el cumplimiento de las recomendaciones del Informe “Las Mujeres frente a la violencia y discriminación derivadas del conflicto armado en Colombia,” September 18, 2009; Working Group to Monitor Compliance with Constitutional Court Order 092, Second Follow-up Report on Orders 092 and 036 of 2009 in connection with the confidential appendix of 183 acts of sexual violence (2009). [48] United Nations, Human Rights Council, Annual Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and Reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and of the Secretary General, Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Colombia, Tenth Session, A/HRC/10/032 (2009), para. 19. [49] Corporación Casa de la Mujer [Foundation for the Protection of Women], Mujeres que Crean [Women Who Create], Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres [Women’s Path to Peace] and Vamos Mujer, Informe de la violencia sexual y los feminicidios en el contexto del conflicto armado colombiano, 2003-2007 [Report on sexual violence and feminicide in Colombia’s armed conflict, 2003-2007], Document presented to the IACHR at Hearing No. 16, Discrimination and violence against women as a result of the armed conflict in Colombia, IACHR, 133rd session, October 23, 2008, p.26. [50] Corporación Casa de la Mujer [Foundation for the Protection of Women], Mujeres que Crean [Women Who Create], Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres [Women’s Path to Peace] and Vamos Mujer. Informe de la violencia sexual y los feminicidios en el contexto del conflicto armado colombiano, 2003-2007 [Report on sexual violence and feminicide in Colombia’s armed conflict, 2003-2007], Document presented to the IACHR at Hearing No. 16, Discrimination and violence against women as a result of the armed conflict in Colombia, IACHR, 133rd session, October 23, 2008, pp. 28-29.
[51] Regarding this statement, the State highlights that “the INMLCF, in the training workshops related to violence against women, offered to the forensic doctors at the institute, has trained them on due diligence. It will also insist regarding this aspect during the trainings planned at the national level for 2010”. See, Observations from the State of Colombia to this report, p. 21.
[52] See, Observations from the State of Colombia to this report, p. 19. The State also informs that “the most prevalent form of violence is the one that occurs in the domestic sphere, intimate-partner violence, a tendency that has persisted for the last 7 years despite the increase in the population and the increase in state services; the same occurs with the sexual violence perpetrated within the family and in other spaces, in which 84% of the victims are women. From this, it can be concluded that violence against women is decreasing, but the complaints are increasing, due to more knowledge among women of their rights and major trust in the institutions, the approval of laws that support policies against violence, the increase in sanctions, and the organization of inter-institutional tables to eradicate violence against women in nine departments, among others. See, Observations from the State of Colombia to this report, p. 20.
[53] Colombia Diversa, Situation of human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgenerists in Colombia, October 23, 2006, received in the Inter-American Commission on November 5, 2006.
[54] The Commission to Monitor Public Policy on Forced Displacement (CODHES, for its initials in Spanish) points out that “of the total displaced population listed in the Single Registry of Displaced Persons (RUPD), 54% are women and 46% are men,” cited by the Working Group on Women and Armed Conflict and the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), Follow-up to the Report on Discrimination and Violence against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia, Document presented to the IACHR at Hearing No. 16, Discrimination and violence against women as a result of the armed conflict in Colombia, IACHR, 133rd session, October 23, 2008, p. 4. The National Survey for Verification of the Rights of Displaced Persons, which CODHES conducted in 2008, found that women account for 52.4% of the total number of displaced persons. See Commission to Monitor Public Policy on Forced Displacement (CODHES), Seventh report to verify observance of the rights of displaced persons, October 30, 2008, available [in Spanish] at: <http://www.codhes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=39&Itemid=52>, consulted on September 29, 2009. Regarding the number of displaced women, the State claims that “it is important to clarify that the larger number of displaced women as opposed to the number of men is due, among other reasons, because the main fatal victims of violence perpetrated by illegal armed groups, as well as from other delinquency groups, are men”. See, Observations from the State of Colombia to this report, p. 21.
[55] Ombudsman’s Office, Promoción y Monitoreo de los Derechos Sexuales y Reproductivos de Mujeres Víctimas de Desplazamiento Forzado con Énfasis en Violencias Intrafamiliar y Sexual [Promotion and Monitoring of Sexual and Reproductive Rights of Women Victims of Forced Displacement, with Emphasis on Domestic and Sexual Violence], Bogotá, Colombia, 2008; Constitutional Court, Order 092 of 2008, April 14, 2008; UNHCR, Global Report 2007, Colombia Situation, available at http://www.unhcr.org/484923382.html, consulted on September 14, 2009; Amnesty International, Everything Left Behind: Internal Displacement in Colombia, AMR 23/015/2009, June 2009; United Nations, Human Rights Council, Annual Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Colombia. Tenth Session, A/HRC/10/032 (2009), para. 84.
[56]Acción Social, Single Registry of Displaced Persons, Tabulated Nationwide, available [in Spanish] at http://www.accionsocial.gov.co/Estadisticas/publicacion%20agosto%2031%20%20de%202009.htm, consulted on September 29, 2009. [57] In 2009, 29608 women and 25455 declared themselves to be heads of displaced households. Acción Social, Single Registry of Displaced Persons, Tabulated Nationwide, available [in Spanish] at http://www.accionsocial.gov.co/Estadisticas/publicacion%20agosto%2031%20%20de%202009.htm, consulted on September 29, 2009. [58] UNHCR, Global Report 2007, Colombia Situation, p. 453, available at http://www.unhcr.org/484923382.html, consulted on September 14, 2009. [59] Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women: Colombia, Concluding Comments of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women: Colombia. CEDAW/C/COL/CO.6, 37th session (2007), para. 12. [60] See, Constitutional Court of Colombia, Judgment T-025 of 2004. [61] In those rulings, the Constitutional Court of Colombia underscored the need to have a state policy to prevent and deal with forced displacement and to introduce in public policies a differential approach that guarantees the basic rights of women, children, adolescents, the disabled, and indigenous and Afro-descendent persons. [62] The ruling identified the minimum protection that the State must provide to the displaced, which included a number of rights that are important for women, such as: the right to be registered, the right to special protection, the right to immediate assistance for a period of 3 months, the right to have documents to show they are registered with health institutions, the right to security, and the right to try to earn a livelihood. See Constitutional Court of Colombia, Judgment T-025 of 2004. [63] Constitutional Court, Order 092 of 2008, Conclusion Paragraph One. [64] The risks the Court identified were as follows: (i) the risk of becoming the victim of sexual violence perpetrated by actors in the armed conflict; (ii) the risk of labor exploitation and enslavement to perform domestic work the and roles traditionally assigned to women in a patriarchal society;(iii) the risk that their sons and daughters will be forcibly recruited by armed actors, a risk that becomes even more serious when the head of household is female; (iv) the risks posed by contact with or having family members or acquaintances that have contacts with members of the illegal armed groups operating in the country or with members of the security forces; (v) the risks that come with membership in women’s organizations or leadership and promotion of human rights in areas affected by the armed conflict; (vi) the risk of persecution and murder as part of the coercive control strategies employed by illegal armed groups; (vii) the risk that their economic provider will be murdered or disappeared, or that their family group and networks of material and social support will be broken up; (viii) the risk of being more easily dispossessed of their land and assets by illegal armed groups, given their historical position vis-à-vis property, especially rural land holdings; (ix) the risks that the heightened discrimination against indigenous and Afro-descendent women pose, and (x) the risk that one’s partner or economic provider will be lost or leave during the displacement process. See Constitutional Court, Order 092 of 2008. [65] In the first category, the Court singled out the heightened risks that displaced women will become victims of structural patterns of violence such as: sexual violence; domestic violence; a role reversal in the family dynamic; more serious obstacles in gaining access to the educational and economic systems and job and business opportunities; violence against women leaders, and women’s lack of knowledge of their rights as victims of the conflict, to truth, justice and reparations. In the second category the Court listed displaced women’s special need for psychosocial assistance and guidance; the specific problems that women have with the displaced persons registration system and getting assistance services; the fact that personnel are not trained to deal with displaced women’s specific needs and the reticence on the part of the relief services to give women humanitarian assistance. Constitutional Court of Colombia, Order 092 of 2008. [66] Constitutional Court of Colombia, Order 092 of 2008, IV.B.1.2. [67] Constitutional Court of Colombia, Order 092 of 2008, IV.B.1.1. [68] Constitutional Court of Colombia, Order 092 of 2008. [69] Constitutional Court of Colombia, Order 092 of 2008, V. C. [70] Constitutional Court of Colombia, Order 092 of 2008, V. C. [71] Constitutional Court of Colombia, Order 092 of 2008, p. 1-2. [72] IACHR, Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia, OEA/Ser.L/V/II. Doc. 67, 2006, para. 72. [73] Corporación Casa de la Mujer [Foundation for the Protection of Women] and Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres [Women’s Path to Peace], Follow-up to the Report of the IACHR “Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia,” Bogota, Colombia, September 2009. Received at the IACHR on September 18, 2009, pp.8-9. [74] Regarding this statement, the State claims that: “the actions described are committed by emerging bands of previous self-defense groups [bandas emergentes de las antiguas autodefensas], that are persecuted by the military, and are not currently considered paramilitary groups since they were demobilized and their heads are jailed and prosecuted. See, Observations from the State of Colombia to this report, p. 22.
[75] See United Nations, Universal Periodic Review, Report on Colombia, September 1, 2008, available [in Spanish] at < http://www.semana.com/documents/Doc-1777_2008129.pdf >, consulted on September 11, 2009. [76] Corporación Casa de la Mujer [Foundation for the Protection of Women], Mujeres que Crean [Women Who Create], Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres [Women’s Path to Peace] and Vamos Mujer, Informe de la violencia sexual y los feminicidios en el contexto del conflicto armado colombiano, 2003-2007 [Report on sexual violence and feminicide in Colombia’s armed conflict, 2003-2007], Document presented to the IACHR at Hearing No. No. 16, Discrimination and violence against women as a result of the armed conflict in Colombia, IACHR, 133rd session, October 23, 2008, p.7. [77] Corporación Casa de la Mujer [Foundation for the Protection of Women], Mujeres que Crean [Women Who Create], Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres [Women’s Path to Peace] and Vamos Mujer, Informe de la violencia sexual y los feminicidios en el contexto del conflicto armado colombiano, 2003-2007 [Report on sexual violence and feminicide in Colombia’s armed conflict, 2003-2007], Document presented to the IACHR at Hearing No. 16, Discrimination and violence against women as a result of the armed conflict in Colombia, IACHR, 133rd session, October 23, 2008, p. 8. [78] Corporación Sisma Mujer, Mujeres en Conflicto: Violencia Sexual y Paramilitarismo [Women in Conflict, Sexual Violence and Paramilitarism], Bogotá, Colombia, 2009, p. 141. [79] The State claims that it has “a program to prevent the illegal recruitment of minor and adolescent children and that other forms of recruitment are typified as a crime and the perpetrators are being pursued”. See, Observations from the State of Colombia to this report, p. 22.
[80] Corporación Sisma Mujer, Mujeres en Conflicto: Violencia Sexual y Paramilitarismo [Women in Conflict, Sexual Violence and Paramilitarism], Bogotá, Colombia, 2009, p. 160. [81] Corporación Sisma Mujer, Mujeres en Conflicto: Violencia Sexual y Paramilitarismo [Women in Conflict, Sexual Violence and Paramilitarism], Bogotá, Colombia, 2009, p. 160. [82] Corporación Sisma Mujer, Mujeres en Conflicto: Violencia Sexual y Paramilitarismo [Women in Conflict, Sexual Violence and Paramilitarism], Bogotá, Colombia, 2009, p. 162. [83] Amnesty International, ‘Leave Us in Peace!’ Targeting Civilians in Colombia’s Internal Armed Conflict, 2008, p. 47. [84] IACHR, Hearing No. 16, Discrimination and violence against women as a result of the armed conflict in Colombia, 133rd session, October 23, 2008. [85] United Nations, Human Rights Council, Annual Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Colombia, Tenth Session, A/HRC/10/032 (2009), p.2. [86] Amnesty International, ‘Leave Us in Peace!’ Targeting Civilians in Colombia’s Internal Armed Conflict, 2008, p. 63. [87] See, Observations from the State of Colombia to this report, p. 23.
[88] IACHR,Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia, OEA/Ser.L/V/II. Doc. 67, 2006, paragraph 102. [89] Report by Oxfam International, Sexual violence in Colombia, instrument of war, Bogotá, Colombia, 2008, p.3. [90] See, United Nations Special Rapporteur on indigenous peoples wraps up visit to Colombia [El Relator Especial de Naciones Unidas sobre pueblos indígenas concluye visita a Colombia], July 27, 2009, available (in Spanish) at http://www.hchr.org.co/documentoseinformes/documentos/relatoresespeciales/2009/relatores.php3?cat=80, consulted on September 30, 2009. [91] Organización Indígena de Colombia [National Indigenous Organization of Colombia] (ONIC), Informe sobre Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres Indígenas presentado al Relator Especial de Naciones Unidas sobre Pueblos Indígenas [Report on the Human Rights of Indigenous Women, presented to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples], July 2009, available (in Spanish) at: http://www.colombiassh.org/reh/spip.php?article471&id_document=543#documents_portfolio, consulted on September 30, 2009. [92] Organización Indígena de Colombia (ONIC) [National Indigenous Organization of Colombia], Elementos sobre la situación de derechos civiles y políticos de los pueblos indígenas en Colombia, 2009 [Information on the situation of the civil and political rights of indigenous peoples in Colombia, 2009] available [in Spanish] at:< http://www.verdadabierta.com/web3/justicia-y-paz/1457-violencia-contra-indigenas-ha-empeorado-relator-de-la-onu> consulted on September 30, 2009. [93] Organización Indígena de Colombia (ONIC) [National Indigenous Organization of Colombia], Elementos sobre la situación de derechos civiles y políticos de los pueblos indígenas en Colombia, 2009 [Information on the situation of the civil and political rights of indigenous peoples in Colombia, 2009], available [in Spanish] available at: < http://www.verdadabierta.com/web3/justicia-y-paz/1457-violencia-contra-indigenas-ha-empeorado-relator-de-la-onu> consulted on September 30, 2009. [94] Constitutional Court of Colombia, Order 092 of 2008, III.1.1.3. [95] Constitutional Court of Colombia, Order 004 of 2009, [96] Mesa de Trabajo Mujer y Conflicto Armado [Working Group on Women and Armed Conflict], Informe de Seguimiento a las Recomendaciones contenidas en el Informe “Las Mujeres frente a la violencia y la discriminación derivadas del conflicto armado en Colombia” de la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos [Follow-up Report on the Recommendations Contained in the Report on “Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia” prepared by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights], September 18, 2009. [97]Organización Indígena de Colombia (ONIC) [National Indigenous Organization of Colombia], Informe sobre Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres Indígenas presentado al Relator Especial de Naciones Unidas sobre Pueblos Indígenas [Report on the Human Rights of Indigenous Women, presented to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples], July 2009, available [in Spanish] at: http://www.colombiassh.org/reh/spip.php?article471&id_document=543#documents_portfolio, consulted on September 30, 2009. [98] Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties under Article 9 of the Convention, concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: Colombia, CERD/C/COL./CO/14, August 28, 2009, para. 16.
[99] Constitutional Court of Colombia, Order 092 of 2008, III.1.9. [100] IACHR, Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia, OEA/Ser.L/V/II. Doc. 67, 2006, para. 115. [101] Organización Indígena de Colombia (ONIC) [National Indigenous Organization of Colombia], Informe sobre Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres Indígenas presentado al Relator Especial de Naciones Unidas sobre Pueblos Indígenas [Report on the Human Rights of Indigenous Women, presented to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples], July 2009, available [in Spanish] at: http://www.colombiassh.org/reh/spip.php?article471&id_document=543#documents_portfolio, consulted on September 30, 2009. |
