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

Teaser:

Sexual violence is endemic to Colombia's long-running armed conflict. Members of all the warring parties have sexually abused and exploited women and girls. This document focuses on the deeply-entrenched impunity that has for so long shielded from justice human rights abusers of all kinds in Colombia. This report examines what, if any, progress has been made by the authorities, particularly since 2008, in addressing sexual violence and impunity.

Editorial:

Abstract

From CNN.com:

In Colombia's decades-old war between the state, guerrillas and paramilitaries, one nearly invisible group of casualties has stacked up.

Women and girls have been the victims of sexual violence at the hands of all the parties involved in the conflict, and there is impunity for the perpetrators, Amnesty International said in a report released Wednesday.

Security forces, guerrillas and paramilitary forces alike participate in "widespread and systemic" sexual violence, the report states.

Since the 1960s, Colombia has been at war with the FARC -- the Spanish acronym for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- a guerrilla group.

The leftist rebel army claims to work as a bulwark against Colombia's ruling class, but has been criticized for losing its original ideology and funding much of its operations with money from the drug trade.

Another source of violence has been the paramilitary groups originally formed by the government and businessmen as a protection from left-wing armed groups. They have since gained control of regions and are notorious for "social cleansing," displacement and extrajudicial killings.

...

Source:

Amnesty International

URL:

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR23/018/2011/en

Date:

September 21, 2011

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

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