Colombia – 2014 results

Colombia has recently taken steps to enhance the protection of women’s physical integrity, including a 2008 law that increases the penalty for violent sex crimes, but violence against women remains a major, though underreported, problem.^[10]

Domestic violence is widespread in Colombia. In 2002, the Institute of Forensic Medicine reported that about one-third of domestic violence cases involved married couples and 23% involved other family members. More than 66% of married or cohabitating Colombian women reported that their husband tried to exert some form of control over them (control over where they are and who they can meet, and false accusations of adultery), while 40% reported experiencing physical violence at the hands of their spouse or partner.^[11] Of these women, 76% have never reported this violence or sought help of any kind.^[12] According to data reported by the National Institute for Medicine and Forensic Sciences, between the years 2005 and 2011, almost 42,000 forensic exams were conducted on victims of intra-familiar violence.^[13] Among displaced women, the rate of intra-familiar violence is particularly high, with 48% of women who were or had been married reporting violence at the hands of intimate partners in a 2010 survey (compared to 40% in the general population).^[14] In contrast to these figures, a 2006 survey found that over 90% of respondents thought that it was never justifiable for a man to beat his wife.^[15]

The legal framework for domestic violence is provided in Article 42 of the Constitution, which states that “any form of violence in the family is considered destructive to the family’s harmony and unity, and should be sanctioned in conformity to the law.”^[16] This framework was bolstered and expanded by the 2008 Violence against Women Law,^[17] which defines gender-based violence as “any action or omission that cases death, or physical, sexual, psychological, economic, or proprietary injury or suffering to a woman because of her status as a woman, including threats of such acts, coercion, or the arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether these occur in the public or private sphere” (Article 2). This law reformed the norms for the prevention, punishment, and remediation of intra-familial violence previously set out in 1996.^[18] Under the 2008 Violence against Women Law,^[19] women also have the right to health care, legal services, information regarding rights to press charges, confidentiality when receiving services, specialised assistance for themselves and their children, justice and the guarantee of non-repetition of the crime.^[20]

It is unclear how the 2008 Violence against Women Law^[21] is being implemented in practice. However, according to the government’s report to the Organization of American States on its obligations under the Belem do Para Convention, the Integral Programme against Gender Based Violence conducted a study in order to evaluate the effectiveness and relevance of the Integral Programme.^[22]

The 2008 Violence against Women Law was then amended, added to and strengthened by the 2011 Seguridad Ciudadana (Public Safety) Law.^[23] In Article 108 of the 2011 law, domestic violence was listed under crimes that require a formal complaint by the victim in order for the judiciary to initiate the legal procedures.^[24] This provision, which put women in a vulnerable position as they were obligated to initiate the legal procedures against their abusive partners, was then annulled by the 2012 Violence against Women Law,^[25] making it mandatory for judicial officials to initiate investigations and procedures in cases of domestic violence.^[26]

Act 599 (2000) of the Colombian Penal Code, which criminalises rape under Title IV, was reformed in July 2008 with Act 1236, setting the punishment for rape at 12 to 20 years of imprisonment. Also, Article 211 of the Act 1236 outlines the criteria for aggravation of the crime: if the victim is a subordinate to the perpetrator, if the victim contracts a sexually transmitted disease or becomes pregnant as a result of the sexual assault, if the perpetrator is the current or former partner or cohabitant of the victim, and if the victim is younger than 14, an elderly person, or a person with a disability.^[27] The sexual violence issue was revisited in December 2008 with the Violence against Women Law (1257), which includes sexual violence in the definition of violence against women under Articles 2 and 3. In addition, Article 8.d of Law 1257 establishes the rights of the victims regarding medical examination after sexual assault. Also, Article 9.4 requires the government to create awareness-raising programmes for preventing sexual violence. Marital rape was also criminalised in 1996.^[28]

Despite the recent reforms, conviction rates remain low, and impunity for rape, especially among women who have been displaced due to conflict in Colombia, remains high leading to a consensus among victims, government officials, and civil society representatives that, “while the laws are good, implementation is failing.”^[29] In a recent seminar organised by the Norwegian Refugee Council and the journal El Tiempo, it was reported that impunity for sexual violence has reached 98%. While 90,000 cases of sexual violence against women have been reported during the 50-year armed conflict, less than 10% of the perpetrators of the crimes have been sentenced.^[30]

Sexual harassment is addressed by the Colombian Penal Code under Article 210.A, later reformed by the 2008 Violence against Women Law.^[31] The 2006 Employment Anti-discrimination Law^[32] defines discrimination as “any different treatment on the basis of race, gender, family or national origin, religious creed, political preference, social status, or other factors not pertinent to employment.”^[33] The law, which applies to both public and private sectors, requires employers to put mechanisms in place to prevent workplace harassment, and to resolve incidences of harassment confidentially. If not resolved internally, the harasser, or the employer that tolerated or did not address the harassment, is subject to a fine amounting to two to ten months of the salary of the person who filed the charges. ^[34]

In order to move forward with implementing the 2008 Violence against Women Law, in November 2011 the Ministry of Labour passed Ordinance 4463. This ordinance marked the creation of the Programa de Equidad Laboral con Enfoque Diferencial y de Género para las Mujeres (Programme for Labour Equality with a Differential and Gender Approach) meant to raise awareness within the public and private sectors about national and international standards for the protection of women in the workplace. In addition, this ordinance seeks to promote research on the subject of sexual harassment in collaboration with the Observatorio de Asuntos de Género de la Alta Consejería Presidencial para la Equidad de la Mujer(Observatory for Gender Affairs of the Presidential Office for Equality for Women), the National Administrative Department of Statistics and the National Department of Planning.^[35]

In terms of perceptions and attitudes, a 2013 study by USAID and SISMAMUJER^[36] revealed that 85% of Colombian women consider sexual harassment to be very present in the workplace. ^[37]

In addition to the above legislation, the Victims and Land Restitution Law[38], passed by Congress in 2011, specifically recognises that women “have the right to a life without violence and for victims of violence to make claims for compensation.”[39] However, there have been serious concerns about conflict-related sexual violence in Colombia. A 2011 report by Oxfam found that between 2001 and 2009, “almost half a million women living in municipalities where armed groups were present were victims of sexual violence.”[40]

Although the Constitutional Court has issued a ruling (2004) and Directive (2008) protecting displaced women and girls, whose rates of intra-familiar and other forms of sex-based violence are particularly high, human rights organisations have documented continued impediments to displaced women’s access to health and legal services.^[41] Despite the initiation of peace talks between the Government of Colombia and the rebel groups in October 2012, millions of women and girls remain internally displaced, and civil society organisations are concerned about the continued vulnerability of women and girls to sexual violence and about the climate of impunity that has prevented justice for these crimes.^[42]

Colombia is also a major source and transit country for the trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation purposes.^[43]

According to the most recent data collected by the United Nations (2013), abortion is illegal in Colombia except in situations where the woman’s life is in danger, to preserve a woman’s physical or mental health, in cases of rape or incest, or for cases of foetal impairment.^[44] Disabled women, however, are not accorded the same rights; a letter sent by a group of NGOs in preparation for Colombia’s October 2013 report to the Commission on the Status of Women expressed concern regarding the forced sterilisation of women with disabilities, which violates Articles 1-3, 5, 10, 12, 15 and 16 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.^[45] Human rights organisations have also reported cases of forced, clandestine abortions on women serving in illegal armed groups in conflict areas.^[46]