South America

Citation:

Restrepo, Elvira Maria. 2016. “Leaders against All Odds: Women Victims of Conflict in Colombia.” Palgrave Communications 2 (May): 1–11. doi:10.1057/palcomms.2016.14.

Author: Elvira Maria Restrepo

Abstract:

In the current high-profile conflict within Colombia, women account for the majority of civilian victims. It has been argued that the inclusion of women in peace-building processes may help increase the scope and sustainability of the subsequently achieved peace. However, most women victims of conflict (WVCs) achieve public visibility simply because of their suffering, not because of their potential as sources, initiators and agents of peace. In contrast, this article argues that WVCs represent a hitherto uncharted piece of the peace-building puzzle. In particular, this study explores the ways in which some WVCs are overcoming their own victimhood and emerging as leaders in peace-building, despite the significant personal risks associated with the on-going violence: who better to help heal and empower victims and reconcile society than those who have suffered trauma themselves—and risen above it? The article draws its primary evidence from extensive personal interviews, ethnographic work and data on women victims in Colombia. Against all odds, these unsung WVC leaders have proven to be powerful agents of change: capable of healing, empowering and even reconciling broader society. This article is published as part of a thematic collection on multi- and interdisciplinary perspectives on gender studies.

Keywords: development studies, social policy

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Peacebuilding, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Sexual Violence, SV against Women, Violence Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Colombia

Year: 2016

Citation:

Theidon, Kimberly. 2012. Intimate Enemies: Violence and Reconciliation in Peru. Pennsylvania Studies in Human Rights. University of Pennsylvania Press.

Author: Kimberly Theidon

Abstract:

Drawing on years of research in the highlands of Ayacucho, Kimberly Theidon explores how Peruvians are rebuilding individual lives and collective existence following twenty years of armed conflict. The micropolitics of reconciliation practiced there complicates the way we understand transitional justice and coexistence in the aftermath of war. (Abstract from WorldCat)

Topics: Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Violence Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Peru

Year: 2012

Citation:

Lind, Amy. 2010. “Gender, Neoliberalism and Post-Neoliberalism: Re-Assessing the Institutionalisation of Women’s Struggles for Survival in Ecuador and Venezuela.” In The International Handbook of Gender and Poverty: Concepts, Research, Policy. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Author: Amy Lind

Topics: Development, Economies, Economic Inequality, Poverty, Gender, Women, Globalization, Political Economies, Post-Conflict Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Ecuador, Venezuela

Year: 2010

Citation:

Wilson, Tamar Diana. 2014. “Violence Against Women in Latin America.” Latin American Perspectives 41 (1): 3–18. doi:10.1177/0094582X13492143.

Author: Tamar Diana Wison

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Wars, Domestic Violence, Gender, Women, Masculinity/ies, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Post-Conflict, Sexual Violence, Rape, Torture Regions: Americas, Central America, North America, South America Countries: Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua

Year: 2014

Citation:

Lahiri-Dutt, Kuntala, and Martha Macintyre, eds. 2006. Women Miners in Developing Countries: Pit Women and Others. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Authors: Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt, Martha Macintyre

Abstract:

"Bringing together a range of case studies of women miners in Asia, the Pacific Region, Latin America and Africa, this book makes visible the roles and contributions of women as miners. It also highlights the importance of engendering small and informal mining in the developing world as compared to the early European and American mines" (Abstract from WorldCat).

Annotation:

Topics: Development, Extractive Industries, Gender, Women Regions: Africa, Americas, South America, Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania Countries: Bolivia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines

Year: 2006

Citation:

Chappell, Louise, Rosemary Grey, and Emily Waller. 2013. “The Gender Justice Shadow of Complementarity: Lessons from the International Criminal Court’s Preliminary Examinations in Guinea and Colombia.” International Journal of Transitional Justice 7 (3): 455–75. 

Authors: Louise Chappell, Rosemary Grey, Emily Walker

Abstract:

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) includes gender justice provisions, notably the recognition of crimes of sexual violence experienced by women in armed conflict. The Statute also institutes a complementarity regime, leaving states parties with primary responsibility for prosecuting international crimes. However, it fails to link these two innovative provisions, leaving a ‘gender justice complementarity shadow.’ Through an analysis of ICC preliminary examinations in Guinea and Colombia, this article argues that the Office of the Prosecutor’s apparent inattention to gender biases underpinning domestic legal systems has left impunity for perpetrators of sexual violence intact and the victims of these crimes unrecognized. It argues that to tackle impunity for sexual violence through complementarity requires the ICC prosecutor to include an examination of gender biases in domestic legal systems when testing state action, willingness and ability in order to understand how these biases impede access to justice for victims of sexual violence.

Keywords: international criminal court, gender justice, complementarity, Guinea, Colombia

Topics: Gender, Gender Analysis, Justice, International Tribunals & Special Courts, Transitional Justice, Sexual Violence Regions: Africa, West Africa, Americas, South America Countries: Colombia, Guinea

Year: 2013

Citation:

Ruiz Romero, Gabriel. 2012. “Voices Around Us: Memory and Community Empowerment in Reconstruction Efforts in Colombia.” International Journal of Transitional Justice 6 (3): 547–57. doi:10.1093/ijtj/ijs018.

Author: Gabriel Ruiz Romero

Abstract:

Although the Colombian armed conflict has had the most impact in the countryside, rural communities have had only a marginal role in the development of state policies designed to address the effects of violence. Seeking to overcome such marginalization, peasant women victims of the armed conflict from Granada came together to address this imbalance and preserve the memory of their dead and missing relatives. They formed the Asociación de Víctimas de Granada and launched the project, Salón del Nunca Más (Hall of Never Again). This Notes from the Field piece explores the association’s strategies to conserve memory and offers some preliminary observations on the outcomes of the self-healing process within this community.

Keywords: Colombia, memory, community associations, reconstruction, forced disappearances

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Justice, Transitional Justice, Post-Conflict Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Colombia

Year: 2012

Citation:

Wirtz, Andrea L., Kiemanh Pham, Nancy Glass, Saskia Loochkartt, Teemar Kidane, Decssy Cuspoca, Leonard S. Rubenstein, Sonal Singh, and Alexander Vu. 2014. “Gender-Based Violence in Conflict and Displacement: Qualitative Findings from Displaced Women in Colombia.” Conflict and Health 8 (10).

Authors: Andrea L. Wirtz, Kiemanh Pham, Nancy Glass, Saskia Loochkartt, Teemar Kidane, Decssy Cuspoca, Leonard S. Rubenstein, Sonal Singh, Alexander Vu

Abstract:

Introduction: Gender-based violence (GBV) is prevalent among, though not specific to, conflict affected populations and related to multifarious levels of vulnerability of conflict and displacement. Colombia has been marked with decades of conflict, with an estimated 5.2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) and ongoing violence. We conducted qualitative research to understand the contexts of conflict, displacement and dynamics with GBV. This as part of a multi-phase, mixed method study, in collaboration with UNHCR, to develop a screening tool to confidentially identify cases of GBV for referral among IDP women who were survivors of GBV.

Methods: Qualitative research was used to identify the range of GBV, perpetrators, contexts in conflict and displacement, barriers to reporting and service uptake, as well as to understand experiences of service providers. Thirty-five female IDPs, aged 18 years and older, who self-identified as survivors of GBV were enrolled for in-depth interviews in San Jose de Guaviare and Quibdo, Colombia in June 2012. Thirty-one service providers participated in six focus group discussions and four interviews across these sites.

Results: Survivors described a range of GBV across conflict and displacement settings. Armed actors in conflict settings perpetrated threats of violence and harm to family members, child recruitment, and, to a lesser degree, rape and forced abortion. Opportunistic violence, including abduction, rape, and few accounts of trafficking were more commonly reported to occur in the displacement setting, often perpetrated by unknown individuals. Intrafamilial violence, intimate partner violence, including physical and sexual violence and reproductive control were salient across settings and may be exacerbated by conflict and displacement. Barriers to reporting and services seeking were reported by survivors and providers alike.

Conclusions: Findings highlight the need for early identification of GBV cases, with emphasis on confidential approaches and active engagement of survivors in available, quality services. Such efforts may facilitate achievement of the goals of new Colombian laws, which seek to prevent and respond to GBV, including in conflict settings. Ongoing conflict and generalized GBV in displacement, as well as among the wider population, suggests a need to create sustainable solutions that are accessible to both IDPs and general populations

Keywords: gender-based violence, Intimate partner violence, conflict, displacement, Colombia, humanitarian settings

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Forced Migration, IDPs, Domestic Violence, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Humanitarian Assistance, Livelihoods, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Sexual Violence Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Colombia

Year: 2014

Citation:

Meertens, Donny, and Margarita Zambrano. 2010. “Citizenship Deferred: The Politics of Victimhood, Land Restitution and Gender Justice in the Colombian (Post?) Conflict.” International Journal of Transitional Justice 4 (2): 189–206. doi:10.1093/ijtj/ijq009.

Authors: Donny Meertens, Margarita Zambrano

Abstract:

This article discusses the advancement and constraints of gender justice for women victims of armed conflict and forced displacement in Colombia, with special reference to land restitution. Women constitute the overwhelming majority of rights claimants under the 2005 Justice and Peace Law and their rights have been supported by rulings of the Constitutional Court. Government response, however, has been insufficient. Women's claims are part of a broader political debate on the limits of victimhood and the costs of reparation, in which the need for restitution of land is reluctantly acknowledged. Displaced women have been more vulnerable to violent land seizures and they face greater security risks than men when attempting to reclaim their land. In this context, what approaches can Colombia use in designing a gender-sensitive land restitution program that is transformative of gender relations? The authors argue that special protection measures, land deeds for women and better access to justice must be included in transitional justice processes as a means of fostering gender-equitable development.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Displacement & Migration, Forced Migration, Gender, Women, Justice, Reparations, Transitional Justice, Land Grabbing, Violence Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Colombia

Year: 2010

Citation:

Boesten, Jelke. 2010. “Analyzing Rape Regimes at the Interface of War and Peace in Peru.” International Journal of Transitional Justice 4 (1): 110–29. doi:10.1093/ijtj/ijp029.

Author: Jelke Boesten

Abstract:

Using the political conflict in Peru as a case study, the author argues that the thesis that rape is a weapon of war obscures other rape regimes during political conflict. These include rape as consumption, opportunistic rape, rape by neighbors or family members, forced prostitution and rape in the aftermath of war. Neglect of forms of sexual violence that do not fit the rape-as-a-weapon-of-war script seriously impedes the transformative potential of processes of transitional justice, as it allows for the continuation of (sexual) violence against women that perpetuates hierarchies based on gender, race and class.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Class, Gender, Justice, Transitional Justice, Race, Sexual Violence, SV against Women Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Peru

Year: 2010