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VIOLENCE AND DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN
IV. MULTIPLE DISCRIMINATION AGAINST AFRO-COLOMBIAN AND INDIGENOUS WOMEN
102. The IACHR corroborated that the situation of indigenous and Afro-Colombian women is particularly critical, as they are victims of multiple forms of discrimination on the basis of their race, ethnic background and their condition as women, a situation aggravated within the armed conflict. They face two layers of discrimination since they are born: firstly, as members of their racial and ethnic group and secondly, their sex. Being exposed to two forms of discrimination historically, they are doubly vulnerable to abuse and mistreatment by the armed groups in their struggle to control resources and territory. As previously stated, the armed groups exploit and manipulate social disadvantage factors in specific groups as a strategy of war. In the case of indigenous and Afro-Colombian women, there is more than one vulnerability factor they can abuse.
103. In this regard, the United Nations Rapporteur has stated that:
Women from the indigenous and Afro-Colombian population suffer multiple/intersectional discrimination on the basis of gender, race, color and ethnic origin and as internally displaced persons…..The conflict reproduces and deepens discrimination between the different groups and women suffer intersectional discrimination on the basis of their gender, and their ethnic and cultural origin. [124]
104. Article 9 of the Convention of Belém do Pará stipulates that, in acting with due diligence, the State must take special account of the increased vulnerability to violence that women may suffer because of their race and ethnic background, among other risk factors. This provision was enacted because discrimination, in its different manifestations, does not always affect all women to the same degree: there are women who are more exposed to the infringement of their rights. Certain women confront various forms of discrimination, which increases their vulnerability and exposure to being abused on the basis of more than one factor.
105. Internationally, it has been recognized that discrimination, in its different manifestations, can be motivated by two or more factors. For example, the Committee overseeing compliance with CEDAW has stated in this regard that:
Certain groups of women, in addition to suffering from discrimination directed against them as women, may also suffer from multiple forms of discrimination based on additional groups such as race, ethnic or religious identify, disability, age, class, caste or other factors. Such discrimination may affect these groups of women primarily, or in different ways than men. State parties may need to take specific temporary special measures to eliminate such multiple forms of discrimination against women and its compounded negative impact on them.[125]
106. Additionally, the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenofobia and Related Intolerance, recognized that racial discrimination and racism manifest differently for women and girls and lead to the detriment of their living conditions, poverty, violence, multiple forms of discrimination, the limitation or denial of their human rights.[126] Furthermore, the United Nations Committee against Racial Discrimination has recognized the serious consequences and the unsafe situation of women who face multiple forms of discrimination. It has emphasized that racial discrimination does not always affect women and men the same way, and that there are circumstances in which racial discrimination only or mainly affects women.[127] Certain forms of racial discrimination may be directed specifically against women because of their gender, such as sexual violence during an armed conflict.[128]
A. Afro-Colombian women
107. The IACHR was able to verify that the situation of Afro-Colombian women living on the Pacific coast is particularly precarious and alarming. Both State authorities and non-State sources confirmed that the Afro-Colombian population has been subjected to a history of discrimination, exclusion, invisibility and social disadvantage, both economic and geographic. The armed conflict has worsened this situation, since the armed actors profit from these disadvantages in their struggle to control territories and resources. In the particular case of Afro-Colombian women, their condition as women adds another factor of discrimination and vulnerability to their lives and exposes them to greater abuses by the actors of the conflict:
We women have been trampled over in our territory and anywhere by the different groups, the legal and illegal armed groups, who kidnap us, kill, rape and humiliate us … leaving as a consequence of these actions the deterioration of the social fabric around us. Therefore, there is no doubt that the armed conflict has harmed black women’s feelings, their ancestral legitimacy, their creativity to form and generate life, their cultural identity and their love for their territory.[129]
108. The United Nations Rapporteur, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Mesa de Trabajo Mujer y Conflicto Armado have identified Afro-Colombian women as a particularly vulnerable group to violence and the consequences of the conflict on the civilian population, such as forced displacement.[130] In its last report, the High Commissioner for Human Rights specifically stated that:
The security, particularly of rural, indigenous and Afro-Colombian women and girls and of those that are organized, displaced, confined or are returnees, has deteriorated as a result of the armed conflict and the use of sexual violence and social control by the illegal armed groups.[131]
109. The Mesa de Trabajo Mujer y Conflicto Armado has stated that the “racism that prevails in Colombian society is also present in the way the armed actors reproduce, in their relations with Afro-Colombian women, exclusionary and discriminatory practices that ignore their differences.”[132]
110. The ICBF confirmed with the Rapporteur that the Afro-Colombian population comprises approximately 20% of the Colombia’s population. The Rapporteur had the opportunity to interview a number of networks, groups and Afro-Colombian women who made reference to the “subtle racism” in Colombian society towards Afro-Colombians because of their race, which has meant for them, as a group, unequal access to the country’s economic, social and political development. They communicated that this racism limits their access to educational services, work, income and participation in national and local decision-making. For example, groups of women in Quibdó, where 85% of the population is Afro-descendent, indicated that most of the population lives in extreme poverty. Quibdó[133] is the locality with the least water supply coverage in the country, 81% of homes have no sewage, illiteracy is up to 19% and maternal mortality rates are high.[134] The State has estimated that 72% of the Afro-Colombian population is in the country’s two lowest socio-economic strata.[135]
111. All of these factors have limited the possibilities for this population to enjoy their particular worldview, traditions and culture and have promoted their invisibility in the public policies of the country. Local authorities of the government of Quibdó, confirmed to the Rapporteur that they felt like a territory forgotten by the national authorities in the social and economic spheres.
112. In the particular case of women, their sex has exposed them to discrimination not only because for their condition as Afro-Colombian, but also because they are women, both in and outside of their communities. Afro-Colombian women shared with the Rapporteur information about the discrimination and violence they suffer from inside their own communities because they are women. For example, they are left out of most organizational processes in their communities, either in the form of community councils, municipal councils, departmental assemblies, and other such models, and they are subject to cultural stereotypes based on their sexuality.[136]
113. The racism and marginalization of the Afro-Colombian groups, as well as them inhabiting territories with resources appealing to combatants, has resulted in their territories turning into scenarios of violence and death, making them one of the population groups with the highest rate of forced displacement, which can reach 30% according to CODHES and Human Rights Watch.[137] For example, Quibdó is an attractive territory for the armed actors because it has one of the world’s highest biodiversity rates, coasts on both oceans, good conditions to grow coca and oil palm. For Afro-Colombians, this reality is particularly harsh because of their close connection with their territory, culture, identity and past. The aggressions by the armed actors are an attack against their culture and their worldview.
114. The Colombian State enacted Law 70 in 1993, which recognizes the Afro-Colombian population as an ethnic group and sets standards for the protection of their cultural identity and rights. Through this law the State recognizes that Afro-Colombians have the right to live according to their own worldview, are entitled to exist as an ethnic group with different needs, and to enjoy their collective property over areas they have occupied according to their traditional production practices. However, illegal armed groups do not respect the right of collective ownership of the Afro-Colombian groups.
115. One of the worst effects of the conflict on Afro-Colombian women is the forced displacement and its consequences. According to CODHES figures, women constitute approximately half of the displaced population and as much as 28% are reported to be Afro-Colombian women.[138] An analysis of different figures also leads us to conclude that women constitute about 50% of the Afro-Colombian displaced population and almost half are heads of household.[139] Within the percentage of displaced women who are heads of household, the highest rates are among Afro-Colombian women (47%) and indigenous women (49%).[140]
116. The impact of forced displacement on Afro-Colombian women is significant and manifests itself in various ways, due to their worldview, culture and traditions, identification with their territory and their condition as women. In addition to the effects on women discussed in previous sections, Afro-Colombian women lose the ability to carry out their cultural practices, for example, having wakes for their deceased, funeral rites, and in general, sharing community life.[141] For example, during the meeting that the Rapporteur held with networks of women in Quibdó, the delegation received the following testimony from an Afro-Colombian victim of forced displacement:
We cannot use the river as we always have ancestrally, as a sacred place. But not anymore, because of the occupation of the armed actors.[142]
117. The loss of territory is also crucial for them. From their perspective, it represents more than a physical space, integrating “neighbors, animals, nature, and social organization: elements that provided a feeling of belonging to a group and distinguishing them from the rest”.[143]
118. The change in roles and family structure faced by displaced women may be even more intense and radical in the case of Afro-Colombian women living in rural areas who move to urban zones, because of the community life that they used to lead, the traditional correlation of their activities with those of their husbands or fathers, and the uprooting of this social model. CODHES has described this change as follows:
For rural, indigenous and Afro-Colombian women, the change they experience because of displacement is very significant; generally, their movements in the past closely corresponded to the movements of their father or husband, their social setting was limited to household activities and production in the same area, as well as their relations with organizations and other outsiders through their men … This situation has molded their self-image and understanding of their environment, which clashes with the perspectives of the urban setting when they arrive in the city. They are exposed to complex cultural, affective, material and spatial losses, particularly when they attempt to symbolically and materially reaffirm their maternal role, which they have always played in their own culture, generating life and preserving family stability.[144]
119. The situation of Afro-Colombian women in the Pacific Coast reveals the relegation of Afro-Colombian women inhabiting rural zones to the domestic sphere as a historical fact. [145] They are the center of their family group and of the direct ties between their children and family members.
Afro-Colombian women subscribe to a social pattern that assigns them the role of care-givers, with domestic chores under their responsibility, and furthermore, male mobility as opposed to female lack of mobility is assumed as a form of complementing roles; the behavioral norms for men and women are different.[146]
They are also entrusted with transmitting beliefs, traditional norms and controls inside the community and to define elements of identification with their territory. These traditions and practices change with the displacement experience.[147]
120. Groups and networks of women interviewed by the delegation in Quibdó described the consequences of displacement for Afro-Colombian women and the change in family structure, roles and traditions they face, as follows:
On their shoulders falls the reorganization, care, and daily hygiene tasks of the family and even the community. Generally, housework is done by women and under these conditions men feel unable to solve these problems and unable to do the work they ordinarily do in their fields. This generates an emotional overload for women, because this situation sometimes leads to family conflicts. Furthermore, women are generally obliged to take the responsibility of obtaining the economic resources to support the family, since the uprooted conditions make it more difficult for men to do work that would generate income, whereas women can work as maids, washing clothes or selling any product as street vendors. When the resettlement is in shelters, women’s privacy is affected, because these places are usually not adapted to satisfying private hygiene needs, or privacy at all, and sometimes there is harassment and abuse of young girls by the males. In the case of displaced persons, there is no differentiated care for women. Their health needs regarding menstruation and family planning are not taken into account.[148]
121. According to the information and testimonies gathered, displacement leads Afro-Colombian women to suffer various forms of discrimination in addition to being women – because they are Afro-Colombian and because they are displaced. Testimonies that the Rapporteur received from displaced Afro-Colombian women indicate that they suffer acts of racism, ridicule and stigmatization by the receiving communities. The Asociación de Afro-Colombianos Desplazados (hereinafter “AFRODES”) has described the persistent belief of receiving communities that “black women are dirty, thieves, or if they come to work in a house they are only useful in bed”.[149] This situation is aggravated by the low levels of education and poverty of the displaced women, which along with their race challenge their adequate access to work and to different forms of economic subsistence.[150]
B. Indigenous Women
122. The IACHR verified that the situation of indigenous women is especially critical due to the serious effects of the armed conflict and the history of discrimination and exclusion they have faced based on their condition of indigenous women.[151]
123. The Rapporteur had the opportunity of meeting in Bogotá and Valledupar with indigenous women pertaining to different groups and could verify through their testimonies, that the protection of their rights is directly linked to the real possibility of living freely in their ancestral lands. Therefore, while the ancestral lands of indigenous peoples are not protected and respected by the armed actors indigenous women will continue to gravely suffer the effects of the armed conflict.
124. From the varied and categorical testimonies received by the Rapporteur from indigenous women, it may be concluded that the armed conflict has meant for indigenous peoples massacres, murders, especially of their leaders and traditional authorities, kidnappings and massive displacements from their ancestral lands. The indigenous women communicated to the Rapporteur that the armed conflict has taken their husbands, their children, their families and even their land, and they said they were tired of suffering:[152]
We are tired; we have no tears left to cry for another loved one[153]
125. Indigenous women in Colombia are recognized as the reproducers of their culture, the guarantors of their peoples’ survival. They have resisted centuries of repression and are now resisting the illegal armed groups who want to take their territories. They recognize that the deterioration is immense, but that they continue, because as they say, not only grief and sadness exist – “the important thing is that we are still alive.”
1. Indigenous women and their ancestral lands
126. Indigenous women belong to societies where the ancestral land is an essential element of their existence and culture. This is the reason why any analysis of the human rights situation of indigenous women in Colombia must consider that they are part of peoples with a different culture, which have a close connection to their lands. It is important to note that the armed conflict has turned indigenous lands into scenarios of war and death.[154]
127. In Colombia, 84 indigenous peoples inhabit 31 of the 32 departments of the national territory, comprising 2% of the total population. Their cultural and social wealth is reflected in their diverse forms of life, generally closely linked to their ancestral lands, in the defense of their autonomy, their organizational structures and ways to resolve conflicts, all of which has enabled them to maintain their cultural identity.
128. The Colombian Constitution of 1991 is one of the most interesting and advanced in the Americas in regards to the rights of indigenous peoples. The State recognizes and protects the ethnic and cultural diversity of the Colombian Nation,[155] recognizes the right of indigenous authorities to exercise judicial functions within their land according to their own norms and procedures[156], and grants indigenous lands the status of territorial entities, by virtue of which they are autonomous to manage their interests, within the limits of the Constitution and the law.[157] Accordingly, they have the following rights: 1) to be governed by their own authorities; 2) to exercise the corresponding competencies; 3) to administer their resources and establish the necessary taxes to enable them to perform their functions.[158]
129. Approximately 27% of the Colombian national territory has been recognized as property of the different indigenous peoples. This recognition has been granted by means of resguardos[159], indigenous reserves with individual titles for the community or parcialidades.
130. In this context of constitutional and legal recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples in Colombia and the enforcement of their rights to ancestral lands, the internal armed conflict has been developing for decades. The Colombian State has been a pioneer in the recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples.
131. Nevertheless, only in 2005, approximately 19,000 have been forcibly displaced from their lands.[160] Even though indigenous peoples constitute about 2% of the total Colombian population,[161] 12% of the internally displaced persons are indigenous.[162]
132. The IACHR in its annual report for 2004 stated that, during the past few years, pressure by illegal armed groups on indigenous lands has intensified. This is due to their strategic importance, both military and economic, for growing and trafficking illegal drugs, and the extraction of natural resources, and for its use in road, mining and hydropower works. [163] Several peoples are at risk of disappearing.[164]
133. Furthermore, the IACHR expressed that in response to this war context, indigenous peoples had expressed publicly at the national and international level their categorical denial to be involved in the armed conflict.[165] They have demanded from all armed actors respect to their right of autonomy and neutrality, declaring their community resistance against the armed conflict actors and the State, in defense of their autonomy, their human rights and with the objective of safeguarding their collective survival.
134. The Rapporteur received testimonies from indigenous women from different peoples who described the serious challenges they face in their lands because of the persistent threats and harassment of the armed actors, and the pressures exercised by third parties sometimes associated with the armed actors, with the purpose of forcing them to abandon their lands, to occupy them strategically and/or exploit their natural resources. An alarming situation is that of the Wayúu women in the Media Guajira, who have denounced the presence of the AUC in a zone where there was no conflict. In that area, the members of the AUC have, for approximately three years, murdered, threatened and harassed members of the Wayúu people in order to wield political and military control over a zone that is considered strategic. Wayúu female leaders have also been threatened, which has required protection by the Inter-American Human Rights System.[166]
135. As the Rapporteur learned during her visit to Colombia, indigenous women view their lands as a fundamental part of their existence. They expressed that the armed conflict has worsened the situation of marginalization they face, but that they have suffered a history of discrimination and marginalization since strangers have desired their lands:
If the bullets don’t kill us, the public policies will[167] 136. Despite the serious challenges indigenous women face by remaining in their lands, they have chosen to stay and resist the various methods the armed actors use to intimidate them. In indigenous lands, the murder of leaders, the kidnapping of children and the rape of women are part of the daily reality:
There have been many human rights violations affecting indigenous and Afro-Colombians, especially in terms of murders, forced disappearances, death threats and internal displacement in rural areas.[168]
According to official statistics, some 855 indigenous people were murdered between 1998 and September 2004 and the OACNUDH reported that “over 100 indigenous individuals and authorities were murdered”. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Indigenous Peoples has stated that these actions constitute “genuine genocide and ethnocide”. In the case of the Kankuamo people who live on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada in Santa Marta, some 166 of their members were murdered between 1993 and 2003. This led the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to issue provisional measures [for protection] in July 2004, ordering the State to safeguard the lives and personal well-being of the members of that community and to investigate and punish prior violations. Nevertheless, less than one month later, another Kankuamo leader was murdered.[169]
137. As members of thousand-year old communities, indigenous women communicated to the Rapporteur that their survival is linked to preserving their lands, because that is where they can freely express their culture.
138. According to the National Human Rights Information System (SINDHO) of the Organización Nacional de Indígenas de Colombia (hereinafter “ONIC”), 21,711 persons have been banished from their reservations and communities. Between January 1st and December 9 of 2005, 63 indigenous people were forced per day to migrate from their ancestral lands; approximately over 12 families a day and nearly three persons per hour. Over 14 thousand indigenous members of the Nasa peoples (66%) and nearly 4,600 Awa indigenous people (21.3%) were the worst affected by the armed actors, who were forced, in both cases, to disperse outside of their communities.[170]
139. In addition to the pernicious effects provoked by the forced displacement on persons, indigenous women suffer the cultural impact resulting from leaving their territories:
If it is an internal displacement[171] there are problems because they are disrupting the balance of our ecosystems. If it is to urban centers, it is a bit more complicated, since most of our fellow indigenous women don’t know Spanish very well, the immensity of the city frightens them, with its anonymity and lack of solidarity among the residents. The memory of our mountains and jungles and their sound kills us. We face new problems in raising our children and relating with our partners, because the city is not our customary environment. We are pursued by the images of the anguish when we had to leave, running with what little we had or could carry in order to outrun death and desolation. Amidst this anguish, we are in charge of our families, accepting activities that are not traditional in our cultures, such as getting jobs as domestic servants or, in the worst of cases, even selling our bodies”.[172]
140. In the visit, it was evident that, even though the State has implemented actions to address the situation of the displaced population, the indigenous population was not considered specifically, much less in a culturally relevant manner, up to a year ago. An UNHCR report from 2003 states: “Regarding the displaced indigenous population in Bogotá there is no accurate information on how many persons or families have come to the capital or what conditions they are living in because, when they register, there is no record of whether they are indigenous, much less what community or reservation they are from. This has contributed to making their problems invisible and, in consequence, they feel unattended.”[173]
Indigenous women have to fight to be recognized as displaced persons, fight to have access to health care and education even if it is not our own, prepare meals with food that is alien to our culture and bodies, struggle for our families not to break apart and our children not to lose our culture.[174]
141. The indigenous women who met with the Rapporteur were emphatic in expressing that the assistance they receive in their capacity as displaced persons is provisional and insufficient. In Valledupar, the Rapporteur received testimonies of the unprotected situation of hundreds of widows and orphans living in extreme poverty and precariousness, who were forced to abandon their lands where they used to live freely to become extremely poor people in the cities.[175] In Valledupar, the situation is especially critical because it is where most indigenous displaced people arrive from the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta, where the Ijka or Arhuaco, Kogi, Wiwa Arzario and Kankuamo peoples live. In the case of the Kankuamo peoples, between 1998 and 2004, 189 of their members were murdered and most of the widows and orphans were displaced to Valledupar.[176]
142. Indigenous women are clear in explaining what they want and they communicated it as follows:
We don’t want any more widowed women, more orphans, we want to return to our lands.[177]
2. Indigenous women, the armed conflict and sexual violence
143. During her visit to Colombia, the Rapporteur received complaints about the use of indigenous women as “spoils of war” by the armed actors and verified that indigenous women have often been victims of sexual violence perpetrated by members of legal and illegal armed groups.
144. In fact, the Rapporteur received testimonies from indigenous women denouncing sexual aggressions perpetrated by the armed actors participating in the conflict, to the detriment of indigenous women. The same women who offered these testimonies indicated that the discriminatory attitude of the aggressor worsens this type of aggression, already alarmingly serious. They explained that patrols of the different armed groups occupying indigenous lands kidnap indigenous women, collectively use them sexually, and then abandon them, protecting themselves by the impunity of their acts.
145. ONIC denounced on November of 2005 that “only in Vaupes, in Carurú, approximately 20 indigenous women have been raped by the Security Forces, plus one adolescent from the Kokonuco peoples of Cauca”.[178]
146. The testimonies received reveal that indigenous women do not often denounce sexual aggressions for different reasons, including cultural. However, one of the main reasons is that the armed groups that perpetrated such crimes often have social and political control over the area where they commit their crimes. Then the women wonder, Where should we file the complaint? For what?
147. In regards to this situation, ONIC communicated how common are the cases of “young women harassed by the armed groups, both legal and illegal, who use them as emotional support, force them to perform domestic duties for them, which stigmatizes them for both groups, and thus forces them to abandon their land, increasing the rate of forced displacement to cities different from their environment, which also leads to begging, working as domestic servants and, worse yet, ending up in prostitution.”[179]
3. Conclusion
148. Accordingly, the IACHR considers that the serious effects of the armed conflict on the lives of Colombian women and men acquire a special dimension for indigenous women. In fact, the pressure exercised by the armed groups over indigenous lands, whether for military strategy or economic reasons, impacts the lives of indigenous women especially seriously since they perceive their ancestral lands as essential places for their existence, culture, and family. The main demand of indigenous women is that their lands should be respected. To the extent indigenous lands are still subject to military or economic interests, the lives of indigenous women will remain threatened, as well as the cultural integrity and the very existence of the peoples they belong to.
V. THE RESPONSE OF THE COLOMBIAN STATE TO THE IMPACT OF THE ARMED CONFLICT ON WOMEN
149. The Colombian State is obligated to exercise due diligence to prevent, sanction and eradicate the violence and discrimination against women aggravated by the armed conflict, even though the conflict poses complex challenges to this response. In the past, the IACHR has recommended to the Colombian State to guarantee the validity and enforcement of legislative, public policy and institutional measures to protect the rights of women to live free from violence and discrimination, as well as to ensure the assignment of necessary resources for its implementation.[180] The IACHR has also emphasized the obligation of the State to investigate and sanction those responsible for these acts, as well as its duty to offer reparations to the victims.[181] As mentioned previously, the obligation of the State to act with due diligence has four components: the prevention, investigation, punishment and reparation of human rights violations.
150. The IACHR has learned of key developments in the response of the Colombian State to generally protect the rights of women. These have been above all in the adoption of a legal and public policy framework, as well as the design of State programs. Furthermore, during the visit it was evident that State officials acknowledge and generally understand the scope of the existing challenges and express their willingness to find solutions both at the national and local level.
151. The IACHR also recognizes the efforts on public policies to address the specific needs of women in the armed conflict, such as the policy denominated, Mujeres Constructoras de Paz y Seguridad, as well as a series of institutions and mechanisms at the national and local level to enforce these laws. It is also important to highlight the efforts of the Colombian State to gather statistics about the violations of the rights of women, including the Observatory of Gender Issues, the work of the National Institute of Legal Medicine, and the incorporation of gender into the statistics of the Administrative Department of National Statistics (hereinafter “DANE”) and the Social Solidarity Network. Moreover, the Constitutional Court has issued a series of notable court decisions over the last ten years, successfully invoking the recourses of tutela and inconstitucionalidad to protect the civil, political, social, cultural and economic rights of Colombian women.
152. Nonetheless, both State authorities and civil society representatives, expressed their concern at the lack of an integral State policy addressing the specific impact of the armed conflict on the human rights of women, applicable to both the national and local levels. This deficiency promotes a context of impunity that perpetuates the treatment of women as “spoils of war” by the armed actors. The Rapporteur also corroborated noticeable flaws in the diagnosis, prevention and early warning of different forms of discrimination and violence against women which are aggravated by the armed conflict, and gaps in the provision of humanitarian assistance and multidisciplinary support services for victims, especially to displaced women.
153. On the other hand, it is important to highlight the homogeneous view of women of the Colombian State as a target group of public policies and as victims of the armed conflict. Article 9 of the Convention of Belém do Pará obligates States to take special account in their legislation and public policies of the vulnerability of certain groups of women to violent acts on the basis of their race, ethnicity, refugee or displaced status, pregnancy and minor age, among other risk factors. [182] However, during the visit and interviews of the delegation with State authorities, civil society and international agency organizations it was evident that these vulnerability factors still need to be taken into account by the Colombian State in the development of public policies and attention programs destined to improve the situation of all women.
154. The IACHR observed specifically the absence at the national and local levels of the specific and different needs of indigenous and Afro-Colombian women in the programs and public policies geared towards protecting the rights of women. It is key that the State implements measures to eradicate discriminatory socio-cultural patterns on the basis of sex, race, ethnic background and social class and to take these differences into account, as well as the possibility of discrimination on the basis of more than one factor, in the development of public policies to mitigate the pernicious effect of the armed conflict on Colombian women.
155. On the other hand, the Rapporteur corroborated that the work of women’s rights defenders and their organizations still does not have the support and legitimacy of the State. The need persists to protect their existence and safety throughout the national territory.
156. In this context, and even in the presence of certain progress, women still confront numerous legislative, institutional, cultural and geographic obstacles to effectively access justice. Among the most notable challenges are deficiencies in the investigation, judgment and sanction of acts of violence and discrimination, gaps in the collection of statistics, the mistrust of the administration of justice in the victims, the need for sustainable capacity-building programs for justice officials and programs to sensitize the population and promote the filing of complaints. Additionally, there is a lack of justice in the zones occupied by the actors of the armed conflict and alarming principles within the penal procedure code applicable to violence against women that can challenge the access of women to effective judicial protections and guarantees.
A. Advances in the development of a legislative and public policy framework, and State programs to protect the rights of women
157. The Rapporteur recognizes advances in the development of a legislative and public policy framework to address the discrimination and violence against women produced by the armed conflict supported by the Colombian State. Colombia is a party to the American Convention[183] and between 1995 and 2004 the State has adopted a series of laws, decrees and policies to advance the rights of women. Among the most noteworthy developments are Laws 51 and 248 of 1985 and 1995, by which the CEDAW and Belém do Pará Conventions were adopted as part of the domestic legislation, and Articles 13 and 43 of the Colombian Constitution, which guarantee equality under the law and non-discrimination against women. There is also a legal framework in place to prevent and eradicate domestic violence pursuant to Law 294 of 1996 and its reform through Law 575 of 2000.
158. In regard to sexual violence, the Penal Procedural Code also typifies various behaviors as crimes that are part of the subject matter jurisdiction of the Rome Statute.[184] Under Law 360 of 1997, some norms of the Penal Code of1980 were amended in the sphere of sexual crimes to strengthen the rights of victims. Among the rights included where to be treated with dignity, privacy and respect during any interview or action for medical, legal or social assistance purposes, to be informed about applicable legal procedures and services available, to access services such as testing for sexually transmitted diseases free of charge (including HIV/AIDS) and physical and emotional trauma, to collect legal and medical evidence and to access indemnity for damages resulting from the crime. This law also provided for the creation throughout the country of specialized units within the Office of the Attorney General to specialize in handling crimes against sexual freedom and human dignity. Each unit should have an on-site psychologist to advice officials in the management of the cases, and to interview and advice the victims.
159. It is also important to acknowledge key advances in the problem of trafficking, such as Law 7474 of 2002, which classifies trafficking persons as a crime and Law 800 of 2003, which ratifies the Optional Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children. It is also pertinent to especially recognize that through the Law 984 of June 8 of 2005, Congress approved the law through which the Optional Protocol of CEDAW was ratified.[185]
160. The Constitutional Court has also issued a series of rulings favoring women, by applying the actions of tutela and inconstitucionalidad. It is recognized by State and non-State authorities that the work of the Constitutional Court has been critical to protect, guarantee and develop the rights of women ingrained in the National Constitution and in international instruments ratified by the Colombian State.[186] The Court has issued a series of decisions declaring unconstitutional all those norms involving sex-based discriminatory treatment against women in civil, family, labor and public policy matters.[187] The most recent decisions include Sentence 453 of 2005, in which the Court protected the rights of a woman who had been a victim of sexual violence, establishing that victims of sexual violence have the constitutional right to be protected against proof that entails an unreasonable, unnecessary, and disproportionate intrusion into their private lives. 161. During the visit, the Rapporteur learned of public policy efforts to address the specific needs of women within the framework of the armed conflict. The Colombian State has established goals oriented to advance the social equity and the human development in the Política de Seguridad Democrática y la Política de Reactivación Social of the administration of President Uribe.[188] The State has also manifested publicly that within the National Development Plan of 2003-2006, Haciendo un Estado Comunitario, it is launching actions to promote the equity and the empowerment of women with an emphasis in the following areas: women and the economy, violence against women, women in the exercise of power and decision-making.[189]
162. As an example of positive actions, the Rapporteur learned of the adoption of the national policy known as Mujeres Constructoras de Paz y Seguridad, with the main purpose of gradually achieving equality between men and women in the political participation processes in social, economic, political and cultural life of the country. The policy includes several program areas, such as, employment and the entrepreneurial development of women, education and culture, sexual and reproductive health, violence against women and institution-strengthening.
163. The Colombian State has also created a series of institutions and mechanisms, nationally and locally, to enforce the legal framework described above. These include the Presidential Office on Gender Equality, which is the coordinating entity, the Office of the Ombudsman for the Rights of Children, Women and the Family, the Office of the Procurator for the Minor and the Family, the ICBF, the Ministry of the Interior and Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Family Commissions, the Office of the Attorney General, the Ministry of Social Protection, the Social Solidarity Network and the Vice- Presidency of the Republic.
164. As a result of the existing public policy framework, the Presidential Office on Gender Equality, as coordinating entity, has launched a series of programs aimed at addressing the specific needs of women. The Presidential Office is executing a plan of affirmative actions, in coordination with ministries and other public entities and in the framework of the Programa Nacional de Desarrollo, in order to incorporate the gender dimension in their programs, projects and budgets.[190] Among them are programs aimed at preventing and confronting domestic violence with an integral model of attention, named Democracia Familiar and the Mesa Interinstitucional de Violencia Intrafamiliar, the campaign Rutas por la No Violencia to increase the visibility of the violence problem as a human rights violation and to increase the legal training of women[191], and the Consejos Comunitarios de Mujeres, which seek to create collaboration spaces between women and the State at the local level about themes such as political participation and violence.[192] Furthermore, the inter-institutional program Haz Paz has been created, as a product of the Política Nacional de Construcción de Paz y Convivencia Familiar to promote the prevention, detention, monitoring and attention of domestic violence at the municipal level.[193] Additionally, a series of State agencies have created programs to assist women victims of violence. [194]
165. It is also important to recognize a series of inter-institutional efforts and programs to combat different forms of violence against women aggravated by the armed conflict. For example, in the case of sexual crimes, an Equipo Técnico Central has been formed by the ICBF, the Office of the Ombudsman, the Office of the Attorney General, the National Police, the Ministry of Social Protection, UNFPA and the INML.[195] These agencies have signed an agreement to identify minimum non-negotiable criteria for care provided to victims of sexual crimes, which any official or private party treating the victims must implement. The model has been validated in five pilot municipalities and there is an expansion process coordinated by the ICBF that has progressed to 19 localities in Bogotá and there are activities under way to achieve its implementation in more than 30 municipalities.[196] In regards to the issue of trafficking, a Mesa Interinstitucional contra la Trata de Personas has been formed which is coordinated by the Ministry of the Interior and Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
166. The State has also created a series of support services for victims.[197] Among the most notable ones are the creation of Family Commissions, the Center of Integral Support for Victims of Sexual Crimes, Inter-Institutional Committees that have been created under the Office of the Ombudsman to provide services for victims and survivors of sexual crimes and the territorial extension of centers of the ICBF and the Social Solidarity Network.
167. In the sphere of health, the Colombian State has publicly stated that the creation and diffusion of the Política Nacional de Salud Sexual y Reproductiva is included within the public health priority goals for the period 2002-2006.[198] The priorities of this policy include the promotion of safe motherhood, family planning for men and women, the reduction of adolescent fertility, the prevention and control of sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, the detection of cervical cancer and the prevention and integral care for domestic and sexual violence.
B. Absence of an integral State policy and of coordinated and multi-disciplinary programs to address the specific impact of the armed conflict on women
168. Despite notable and significant advances, several State and non-State sources communicated their concern to the Rapporteur about the lack of an integral State policy to address the specific impact of the armed conflict on women with a coordinated and multidisciplinary approach that includes the specific needs of women throughout the national territory. The IACHR observes that the State seems to lack an integral vision and an effective preparation to address the consequences of violence and discrimination that the conflict imposes on women. The existing policy framework does not provide an adequate base for the implementation of integral programs and services for victims that include the justice, education and health sectors. The State has recognized publicly that between the years 1995 and 2004, an adequate policy framework, strategies and plans of action were absent to facilitate the systemic follow-up to commitments made to advance the rights of women and the scarcity of resources to implement these measures. [199]
169. Furthermore, the institutional mechanisms that presently execute programs destined to protect the rights of women lack sufficient influence, competency to coordinate, and the resources to effectively implement State policies destined to mitigate the impact of the armed conflict on women. Several State and non-State sources communicated their concern over the lack of resources and political will to execute the legislation, public policies, institutions and existing programs destined to address the rights of women and how the problems faced by women are secondary to national security needs. These loopholes and flaws weaken the effectiveness of any legislative and public policy and State programs created to protect the rights of women within the armed conflict.
170. The Rapporteur learned during the visit of the perception of the international community and of non-governmental organizations of the weak capacity of the Presidential Office on Gender Equality to act as coordinating entity of the inter-institutional efforts to address the specific needs of victims of discrimination and violence and of resources to sustain and create programs. Moreover, this entity does not seem to have as a priority addressing the impact of the armed conflict on women in regards to violence and discrimination.
171. During the meeting of the Rapporteur with the Presidential Office on Gender Equality, its actual director, Dr. Martha Lucia Vásquez, highlighted the implementation of programs oriented to advance the economic development of women and the eradication of poverty and not the violence and discrimination that is aggravated by the armed conflict. Additionally, its programs destined to address violence against women, such as Democracia Familiar and the creation of the Consejos Comunitarios de las Mujeres, do not focus on the impact of the armed conflict on women and the physical, psychological and sexual violence employed, but mostly address the problem of domestic violence. The Rapporteur recognizes that the budget and political will dedicated to the issue of the impact of the armed conflict on women cannot be evaluated solely by the actions and budget of the Presidential Office on Gender Equality. However, it considers the programs that are being currently implemented as a reflection of the priorities within the State, due to its competency as coordinating entity of public policies to advance the rights of women.
172. The Rapporteur verified as well during the visit flaws in the coordination and communication between different State entities that execute programs and support services destined to victims of violence and discrimination produced by the conflict. The Colombian State has recognized that a deficiency in the public attention of violence against women is the: “lack of articulation among the different entities involved that challenges the attention and prevention of violence against women. It is necessary to improve the channels and mechanisms of coordination, in order for each of the relevant entities to develop, in the framework of its competencies, plans, actions, and programs for the protection, prevention, attention and sanction of violence.”[200]
173. As previously mentioned, the Rapporteur learned of a series of support services for victims of violence that are granted through the Family Commissions, the Center for Integral Attention for Victims of Sexual Violence of the Office of the Attorney General, the centers of the ICBF, as well as the Inter-Institutional Committees created by the Office of the Ombudsman. However, the Rapporteur received information through different channels that highlighted the absence of communication and coordination among these services, which results in a fragmentation of the attention to the victims.
174. Additionally, the deficiencies in the coordination between national and local services were evident during the visit of the Rapporteur to Valledupar and Quibdó. In Valledupar, several units of the Community Ombudsman shared their concern with the delegation over the weak communication between the local units of the Office of the Attorney General and the national unit, mostly when the crimes are committed by the armed actors in occupied zones. In the particular case of Quibdó, the State authorities shared with the Rapporteur their concern over the low coordination between the national and local services and how they felt “abandoned” and unsupported by the national authorities.
175. However, the Rapporteur was informed of good practices and local efforts to offer a coordinated and multidisciplinary attention to victims of violence and discrimination, above all to displaced women. For example, in Valledupar, the Social Solidarity Network and the ICBF are trying to offer a multidisciplinary team support to victims of displacements, including psychologists, nutritionists, and social workers. Nonetheless, these coordination efforts are limited by the lack of human and financial resources.
176. In regards to resources, several State sources, including the INML and the State authorities interviewed in Valledupar and Quibdó, manifested their concern over the scarcity of resources destined to attend the discrimination and violence against women in Colombia produced by the armed conflict and the provision of specialized services for victims. In regards to the investment to attend sexual violence, the INML has manifested that there is a “total gap between the social investment during 2004, in comparison with the resources destined for national defense and executed through the armed forces.”[201] To support this premise, the INML compared the budget assigned on 2004 to the National Defense, a total of 76 billion of Colombian pesos, in contrast to the budget of the Social Solidarity Network, a total of 150 thousand millions.[202]
177. Another concern highlighted by both State and non-State authorities about the public programs is their limited territorial presence, in particular, their notable absence in the zones occupied by the actors of the armed conflict. For example, the reform of the domestic violence law, through the Law 575 of 2000, transferred the competencies to dictate protection orders to the Family Commissions. However, several sources confirmed that there are not sufficient Commissions to cover the needs of all municipalities in the country. For example, the Rapporteur received information confirming that only 222 exist for the 1,080 municipalities in the country and only 82 have a multidisciplinary team.[203] The Office of the Ombudsman for the Rights of Children, Women and the Family in Colombia shared with the Rapporteur its concern over the closing of many of these Commissions, as well as the disincentive to create new ones, which decreases the existence of important avenues to access justice.
178. However, the Rapporteur learned in her interviews with State and non-State authorities of coordination efforts between the government, international agencies and the civil society to attend victims of the violence and discrimination produced by the armed conflict. For example, the Rapporteur received information from the Office of the Attorney General about its collaboration and articulation with the OFP to document cases in zones occupied by the armed actors. The Rapporteur was also informed about efforts on behalf of different State agencies to design collaboration programs with United Nations agencies, such as the program of the Office of the Procurator with UNIFEM to attend displaced women. Nevertheless, it is visible how these efforts are insufficient and how the initiatives undertaken, mostly by civil society organizations, to offer needed services for victims, such as those provided by PROFAMILIA in the area of sexual and reproductive rights, do not have sufficient recognition and support from the Colombian State.
C. Flaws in the diagnosis and prevention of the consequences of the armed conflict on women
179. One of the major gaps the Rapporteur observed during her visit was in the area of prevention and diagnosis of the specific consequences of the armed conflict on all women, throughout its national territory, especially pertaining to the legislative and public policy framework and the collection of statistics. The IACHR highlights the key and positive efforts from the Colombian State to collect statistics about the existing gender inequalities and the situation of violence against women in Colombia, such as the Observatory of Gender Issues launched by the Presidential Office on Gender Equality and the efforts of the INML. Another recognizable achievement has been the incorporation of a gender perspective in the analysis of the statistics gathered by DANE. Furthermore, the Colombian State informed the IACHR about the National Information System for registering and consolidating national statistics on domestic violence, child abuse and sexual abuse.[204] The IACHR recognizes these initiatives as a good beginning to obtain an adequate diagnosis of the situation and to design adequate prevention and early warning systems.
180. However, several State authorities, including the Vice Minister of Multi-Lateral Affairs at the time, Jaime Girón, and non-State sources, communicated to the delegation the existence of serious problems to collect figures and statistics that accurately reflect the magnitude of the situation because there is no uniform, reliable statistics system. The Rapporteur also corroborated during the visit the lack of statistics disaggregated by risk factors faced by different groups of women, based on their race and ethnic background, among |
