The silence on all sides' use of sexual violence must end, and crimes be addressed, for peace to be meaningful
BOGOTA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Colombia must break the silence on sexual violence by all sides in its long-running conflict and ensure such crimes are addressed in any accord resulting from current peace talks, a U.N. expert on the subject has said.
The government and leftist rebels have been holding peace talks in Cuba since late 2012 in a bid to end a 50-year war that has killed 200,000 people and displaced millions.
All factions - leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitary groups and government troops - have carried out rape and other forms of sexual violence against women and girls, and to a far lesser extent men and boys.
"I urge both the government and FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) to ensure that the ongoing peace process and the eventual peace agreement explicitly address gender issues and sexual violence in the conflict," Zainab Hawa Bangura, U.N. special representative on sexual violence in armed conflict, told reporters in Bogota on Tuesday, ending a four-day visit.
"Breaking the silence on sexual violence in Colombia must be a conscious effort and represents a critical step toward eradicating this scourge ... it is evident that a deep culture of silence and denial still exists," she said.
Bangura said she was 'extremely concerned' about the difficulties facing children born as a result of rape.
"After decades of conflict in Colombia there are several generations of such children and adults," Bangura said.
The warring factions have used sexual violence against civilians to frighten communities, get revenge, and impose social and military control on an area, local rights groups say.
The government's official register of war victims lists 7.2 million people, including nearly 8,000 who suffered sexual violence or rape at the hands of warring factions.
In a landmark 2008 ruling, the Constitutional Court said that "sexual violence against women is a habitual, extensive, systematic and invisible practice in the Colombian armed conflict."
Colombia has passed unique laws that recognise sexual violence as a crime against humanity, Bangura noted.
The 2011 victims' law offers up to $12,000 in compensation to war victims and their families, including survivors of sexual violence.
But putting such laws into practice remains a challenge and survivors of sexual violence face stigma and 'significant' barriers when trying to report sex crimes and get justice, resulting in a 'chronic under-reporting of sexual violence crimes,' Bangura said.
"Above all the culture of impunity for sexual violence must be broken if we are to turn the tide," she said.
Bangura visited the western province of Choco, a remote, impoverished rainforest region, where she said drug-running criminal gangs are involved in illegal gold mining and use children as sex workers.
"...these children were often referred to as packages to service mining operations, and ... were replaced by new packages when they become too used or "too sick," she said.
A key way to help survivors of sexual violence is to ensure they have jobs and opportunities to support themselves and their families, Bangura said.
(Editing by Tim Pearce)
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