WUNRN
Via AWID Resource Net
COLOMBIA
League of Displaced Women - Liga de Mujeres
Desplazadas
Displaced Women and Girls in Colombia
AWID
interviews Patricia Guerrero from the Liga de Mujeres Desplazadas
(League of
Displaced Women) in Colombia about their work, the threats they
face, and the
recent arson of their community centre.
By Rochelle
Jones
Translated from the Spanish by Lina Gomez and Fernanda Hopenhaym,
with
assistance from Anna Turley.
AWID: Colombia has one of the
largest internally displaced populations in
the world. Tell us about the work
of Liga de Mujeres Desplazadas, and
particularly about the reasons behind the
displacement of women and
children in Colombia's Atlantic Coast
region.
Patricia Guerrero (PG): The Liga de Mujeres Desplazadas (LMD) is
a
grassroots organization made up of over 200 women of different
ethnicities
and their families. They are displaced women from different
regions of the
country such as the Department of Bolivar, Antioquia, los
Santanderes,
Choco and Guajira.
These women have been displaced
as a result of Colombia's longstanding
internal conflict, which has been
going on for more than 40 years. They
have been displaced by all the groups
involved in the war: paramilitary
forces, guerilla groups and by the state
itself. This displacement has
worsened in the last 10 years due to
territorial disputes between illegal
armed groups fighting for control over
land.
Women, girls and boys are most affected by this phenomenon. Over
54% of the
internally displaced are widows and female heads of
households. Women have
been victims of serious war crimes particularly
gender-based violence such
as sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced
abortions, forced
recruitment and rape. These crimes have been perpetrated
against some of
the women of our organization. Moreover, since its foundation
in 1997, the
LMD has been the target of several assaults that go from murder,
forced
disappearance, kidnappings, and robbery to persecutions and death
threats
against the organization's leaders and their families. The LMD's
main
project is the Centro Comunitario en la Ciudad de las Mujeres (Women's
City
Community Center), the home of over 500 people.
Some of the
activities that the LMD is developing through the Women's City
project
include: a women's cooperative called "MujerCoop", a line of credit
and a
shelter that is used as a day care facility for over 100 children.
Women from
this project also work on re-location issues directly with the
municipal
authorities and advocate for the implementation of public
policies that
protect women's rights and internally displaced people's
rights.
Additionally, this project works on accountability issues, and also
conducts
participatory action-research in order to unveil the lack of
funding for
women's rights restitution initiatives. As a result of this
work, the LMD has
made complaints against the mayor to the Public Ministry
and consequently, he
is being investigated for negligence and
fiscal
obstruction.
The Women's City has been the only social housing project for
displaced
people in the region in the last three years, which highlights
the
incompetence of the government as compared with the power of
women
organizing.
As a consequence of the social and armed conflict,
the Atlantic Coast is
one of the regions that has been most affected by
forced displacement.
Among the armed groups present in this area there is the
FARC, the ELN and
various paramilitary fronts. The Caribbean region is one of
the country's
richest in cattle farming, land and natural resources such as
charcoal. It
is also one of the least developed regions with high poverty
levels and
very poor living conditions. Additionally, this region has a high
incidence
of drug trafficking and wealth is concentrated among a few
families. These
families have been historically linked to both the local and
regional power
structure and to the so-called "para-politics" —politicians
involved with
the paramilitaries and narco-trafficking activities. The
Caribbean region
is also highly affected by corruption at all levels. A large
number of
massacres have taken place in this region where mass graves with
hundreds
of bodies - assassinated by the paramilitaries in the last 10 years
- have
been
found.
AWID: In January, the Women's City Community Centre in Turbaco was
the
target of an arson attack and destroyed. What happened?
PG: The
LMD's main project, Centro Comunitario en la Ciudad de las Mujeres
(Women's
City Community Centre), was set on fire on the night of January
20th.
Criminals started the fire while the women were asleep in their
homes. This
center was going to be used as a school facility for 144 girls
and boys from
the organization and neighboring communities.
AWID: Why is the League being threatened and by whom, and what is it
that
makes your work such a threat?
PG: We believe there are many
reasons why we are being threatened. Firstly,
we are being threatened because
we are trying to restore the social fabric
of the region based on the
principles of equality, no discrimination, no
violence, no corruption and we
stand against everything else that is
detrimental to the population in the
region. Historically, corrupt
politicians have used death threats to frighten
and intimidate community
leaders.
Secondly, some of the League's
displaced women witnessed crimes perpetrated
by paramilitary members that are
currently being prosecuted. Thirdly, the
process of paramilitary disarmament,
demobilization and reintegration that
is being implemented in Colombia is
rather atypical because it is taking
place in the middle of the conflict. The
paramilitary demobilization is not
being properly monitored by the local
authorities. It has been proven that
demobilized paramilitary groups are
taking advantage of unclear amnesty
laws to return to their criminal
activities and are continuing to persecute
social and community leaders. Two
women leaders that have witnessed crimes
perpetrated by the paramilitary were
assassinated within the last two weeks
in Colombia.
AWID: What
has happened since the fire, and what is the government doing
in
response?
PG: The typical response from the local authorities is to
militarize the
'City of Women', to create "security fronts". We have strongly
refused to
be part of these 'security fronts' as we want to be identified
solely as
civil society actors. Women's security is not about having a police
officer
or a soldier at our side. We want human security that implies
the
restitution of our human rights, that justice is done, that the facts
are
investigated, that there are public policies for women, investment in
the
community, education for our children, health, and the possibility to
live
a life with dignity and without fear.
AWID: How have other
organisations responded to this incident?
PG: With solidarity. Social
organizations and women's organizations have
demonstrated a lot of solidarity
with us. Some women from the Colombian
Congress have written to us and are
demanding a response from the
authorities. The UNHCR, European Union, the US
embassy and the Canadian
embassy have also shown solidarity with us. A
Security Council has been set
up to address this issue, but so far none of
those responsible for this
crime have been detained.
Women's
organizations in particular, have shown great solidarity. AWID,
through Lydia
Alpizar, has been very attentive to my security and my
family's. The Urgent
Action for Women has also offered its support. The
Global Fund for Women, for
which I'm an advisor, has sent a letter to the
Colombian president demanding
security and a response to this case.
I have felt really surrounded by
women. It has always been like this, and I
thank them with all my heart. I
could never have done what I've done without
women's solidarity and
love.
AWID: I know that UNHCR has been working to address the
internal
displacement of people in Colombia, but this latest incident seems
to be an
escalation of the violence. How can the international community
help?
UNHCR has made an international statement about the case of the
Displaced
Women's League. They have expressed their concern and have
demanded
protection by the Colombian Government. In addition they have
declared 2007
as the year for the rights of the displaced population in
Colombia.
A new law that is currently passing through Congress will
declare 2007 as
the year of the displaced population with the aim of calling
attention to
this critical problem in Colombia - more than 4 million people
are
displaced. We are meeting with the congresswoman who is driving this
law.
She wants to understand our point of view. The UN radio station has
also
interviewed us, which was an opportunity to once again place the subject
of
women's rights violations in Colombia on the agenda.
The European
Union has committed to the reconstruction of the Community
Center and we are
working hard to be able to rebuild it as soon as
possible. At the same time,
the US Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy has
made a strong statement against
the attack on the Displaced Women's League,
in the Los Angeles
Times.
AWID: How do you stay strong, Patricia? What keeps you
going?
PG: I've been fighting for women's rights in Colombia for over 20
years.
First, I did it for the women in the flower industry who face
serious
problems. I worked with imprisoned women whose rights were violated -
they
were not allowed to have their children with them nor conjugal visits.
As a
human rights lawyer, I was the first woman judge in Colombia to speak
out
about the possibility of rape inside marriage. I advocated for
the
decriminalization of abortion before the Constitutional Court and I did
it
from the perspective of women who had been raped during the armed
conflict
in order to outline their right to restitution.
Currently I
am advocating against government actions that impede
investigation into the
crime of forced displacement before the State
Council. I have done research
into impunity in the case of displaced women
and into gender based violence.
I founded the Displaced Women's League nine
years ago and in 2005 we were
nominated for the national peace award.
Recently we received an honorable
mention for the II King of Spain award
for Human Rights. I also have three
daughters.
As you see, I'm very busy, and it's the women and my
conviction that we
have less and less time to take the world from the hands
of the violent,
the exploiters and the criminals against humanity, that gives
me the
strength to continue my struggle.
================================================================
To
leave the list, send your request by email to:
wunrn_listserve-request@lists.wunrn.com. Thank you.