Reports on human rights violations against women, including rape and sexual violence of women and girls in Colombia
For reports on general human rights violations, see Reports: International Crimes and Human Rights Violations
Title: Sexual Violence in Colombia
Organisation: Oxfam International
Date: September 2009
This report describes how in over almost 50 years of Colombia’s armed conflict, sexual violence was employed as a weapon of war by all of the armed groups – state military forces, paramilitaries, and guerrillas – both against civilian women and their own female combatants. It finds that sexual violence had become a generalised and systematic practice; yet despite this, the impunity that enveloped these types of crimes converted Colombian women into the hidden victims of this conflict.
Links: Download this report from the organisation’s website
Download this report from the Universal Jurisdiction archive
Title: The Virtuous Twins: Protecting Human Rights and Improving Security in Colombia
Organisation: International Crisis Group
Date: May 2009
This report examines the security gains made by the Uribe administration over the previous seven years. It finds that the government argued that the human rights record had improved with its “democratic security policy,” but serious abuses, including of international humanitarian law, persisted and in some instances were even increasing. It also finds that forced displacement and violence against vulnerable sectors, including ethnic minorities and women, remained widespread.
Links: Download this report from the organisation’s website (also available in Spanish)
Download this report from the Universal Jurisdiction archive (also available in Spanish)
Title: Violence and Discrimination Against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia
Organisations: Organization of American States and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Date: October 2006
This report documents how the conflict in Colombia has severely affected the civilian, non-combatant population, particularly women, including children, indigenous peoples, Afro-Colombian communities, social leaders and human rights defenders.
Links: Download this report from the organisation’s website
Download this report from the Universal Jurisdiction archive
Title: Colombia: "Scarred Bodies, Hidden Crimes": Sexual Violence Against Women in the Armed Conflict
Organisation: Amnesty International
Date: October 2004
This report aims to give a platform to women survivors of sexual violence whose voices are rarely heard - because of the shame and fear they have experienced for so long - and thus contribute to a greater awareness of the extent and seriousness of violence against women in the context of the armed conflict in Colombia. It finds that medical treatment for survivors of sexual abuse was almost non-existent for those who could not afford it. Sexual violence against women in the context of the armed conflict therefore remained hidden behind a wall of silence fuelled by discrimination and impunity.
Links: Download this report from the organisation’s website
Download this report from the Universal Jurisdiction archive (also available in French and Spanish)
Title: A Charade of Concern: The Abandonment of Colombia’s Forcibly Displaced
Organisation: Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children
Date: May 1999
This report documents the 1.5 million displaced Colombian citizens as a result of armed conflict. It finds evidence of a seriously deprived displaced population that received alarmingly low levels of humanitarian support and only minimal recognition of their plight from national and international agencies and governments. It also looks specifically at internally displaced women and children.
Links: Download this report from the organisation’s website
Download this report from the Universal Jurisdiction archive
Title: Women in Colombia: Breaking the Silence
Organisation: Amnesty International
Date: September 1995
This report deals with politically motivated violence against women in Colombia. It finds that the appallingly high level of serious human rights violations in Colombia developed against a backdrop of violent conflict between armed opposition groups and the state. It also finds that the violence in Colombia meant that many people had to leave their homes in the country and flee to cities: women are the principal victims of this internal displacement; and in the cities, female prostitutes, some young girls, were in danger of being killed by urban "death squads," who classed them as "social undesirables."
Links: Download this report from the organisation’s website
Download this report from the Universal Jurisdiction archive (also available in French and Spanish)
