All armed groups involved in Colombia's decades-long conflict have been accused of sexual violence against women
BOGOTA (TrustLaw) - Colombian authorities must do more to provide justice and support to the thousands of women and girls who have been raped and sexually abused by warring factions in Colombia’s armed conflict, the United Nations has said.
For nearly five decades, Colombia has been mired in fighting between government troops, leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitary militias. All of these armed groups have been accused of sexual violence against women.
“More needs to be done to support these survivors, both in terms of access to justice, assistance and to help them reintegrate into society. Additional resources are required to strengthen the capacity of the judicial system in order to address the issue of sexual violence,” Margot Wallstrom, the United Nations’ special envoy on sexual violence in conflict, said in a statement at the end of a four-day visit to Colombia earlier this week.
“I understand that the country as a whole wants to look to the future, instead of dwelling on the past, but there can be no lasting peace without security and peace for women,” Wallstrom added.
According to Colombia’s constitutional court, sexual violence carried out by illegal armed groups is widespread.
In a landmark ruling in 2008, the court concluded that “sexual violence against women is a habitual, extensive, systematic and invisible practice in the Colombian armed conflict”.
Armed groups use sexual violence, including rape, against women to instill fear among communities, as a weapon of war, and as a way of imposing social and military control in an area, rights groups say.
Women and girls from indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities are at greater risk of sexual violence, as are women and girls forcibly driven from their homes by fighting.
Only a fraction of the thousands of cases of sexual violence carried out by armed groups are currently being investigated by Colombia’s attorney general’s office, rights groups say.
The problem of sexual violence in Colombia is under-reported. Many victims are too afraid to inform the authorities because they fear reprisals from the perpetrators and have little faith that the police will hunt down and punish their attackers, local rights groups says.
Colombian law allows victims of sexual violence to seek justice and receive medical care. But few perpetrators of sexual crimes have been punished and big gaps remain in putting laws into practice.
Justice for many survivors of sexual violence in Colombia remains elusive, the U.N. special envoy said.
“Impunity must never be an option,” said Wallstrom.
“Justice in Colombia has been delayed for so many, but it must not be denied.”
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