WUNRN
European Center for Constitutional & Human Rights - ECCHR
http://www.ecchr.eu/en/our_work/gender-and-human-rights/colombia.html
Colombia
- Sexualized Violence in the Colombian Conflict – A Matter for the
International Criminal Court
In 2014 an average of two women were raped every three days in the
course of the armed conflict in Colombia. Yet to date there have been very few
convictions for sexualized violence – and no convictions at all in cases in
which the perpetrator was a member of the armed forces. By failing to act, the
Colombian state is denying women the protection against sexualized crimes and
access to justice that it is obliged to guarantee under national and
international law. In response, the European Center for Constitutional and
Human Rights (ECCHR), together with the Colombian organizations Sisma Mujer
(Sisma) and Colectivo de Abogados José Alvear Restrepo (CAJAR), has today
submitted a criminal complaint (known as a communication) against Colombia to
the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. The organizations are
calling on the Court’s prosecution authorities to open investigations against
suspects in Colombia. “If Colombia is not able or willing to end impunity for
sexualized violence against women, the ICC must intervene – as set out by the
Rome Statute on the International Criminal Court”, says ECCHR General Secretary
Wolfgang Kaleck.
In compiling the communication, ECCHR, Sisma and CAJAR examined 36
representative cases of sexualized violence that occurred between 2002 and
2011. Their conclusion: Sexual assaults carried out in the course of the armed
conflict are not isolated incidents but instead form part of the military
strategy and are crimes against humanity. The military enjoy almost total
impunity. “In Colombia there are laws and instruments aimed at ending violence
against women, but these are almost never adequately enforced by the state”,
says Claudia Mejía Duque, Director of Sisma. The organizations are calling on
the ICC prosecution authorities to comply with the standards set out by the
Court itself; in a 2014 policy paper the Court declared it would be adopting a
gender perspective and gender analysis in all levels of its work.
The three human rights organizations believe that investigations by the ICC
could strengthen the peace process in Colombia. “Independent and impartial
action by the ICC could serve to prevent further crimes”, according to CAJAR
President Luis Guillermo Pérez Casas. This, he says, is another reason why
prosecutors must now launch investigations into the main perpetrators of grave
human rights violations, including sexualized violence.
ECCHRSismaCAJAR_ICCCommunicationVSXinColombia_Executive
Summary_EN.pdf (384.7 KiB)
Colombia_ICC_SpecialNewsletter_20150427.pdf (554.1
KiB)