Talking About Colombia

The list of crimes against women committed by the paramilitaries, the guerrilla and the armed forces, includes rape, enforced nudity, enforced contraception, sexual slavery, and forced pregnancy.  The systematic use of women as a weapon of war has affected women of every race, religion, ethnicity, age and status.

Now, a symbolic Court Against Sexual Violence within the Colombian Armed Conflict  has concluded that if the Colombian authorities do not investigate and prosecute those responsible for these types of crimes, then the International Criminal Court, the ICC, should address them.

Colombia, though a State Party to the ICC since November 2002, was one of the two countries, along with France, that subscribed the disposition of Article 124, not accepting the ICC jurisdiction over war crimes for 7 years. Hence, Colombia is currently classified as a “situation under analysis.”

Of interest: paramilitary men who raped two girls, ages 13 and 18, while telling them their boyfriends would be assassinated unless they consented, face no more than eight years in prison for that crime. They will also be tried on other charges of homicide and forced disappearance.

Related:

Violence Against Women in Colombia’s Conflict

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: Violence and Discrimination Against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia

Amnesty International: Colombia: “This is what we demand, justice!: Impunity for sexual violence against women in Colombia’s armed conflict