There is still a long way to go for the full restoration of their rights and equal opportunities, but the Unit has made an important contribution with the route of attention, assistance and reparation to the victims of armed conflict. Reflection on the International Day for the Rights of Women.

"On a day like today, we ask to have equal rights and conditions, not to be discriminated against, to have free expression, to be heard without being violated," says Arelis Solano Guerrero, a woman victim of armed conflict. It is the same request that millions of women in the world make, whether or not they have been affected by wars or violent groups.

When the International Day for the Rights of Women is celebrated, it is worth highlighting some data. The figures show that it is difficult to belong to the female gender in the whole planet, both in intimate and family settings, as well as in the midst of armed conflicts, in labor and professional fields, among others.

In Colombia, according to Legal Medicine, 1724 women in Colombia were murdered by their ex or sentimental partners, or by their families (2017-nov.2018). Until that same month, around 24,000 women affected by sexual violence in the middle of armed conflict had been included in the Unified Victim Registry. The total number of women who have suffered damages due to various victimizing acts, according to the same Registry, was 4,397,018 women.

The Unit focuses on them

The director of Victims Unit, Ramón Rodríguez, sends a greeting to all the women: "Special greetings to women wrestlers, to all women, this is a recognition of their struggle for participation and equality in each of the rights; from Unity, led by the Presidency of the Republic, we are building a country with women ".

With a differential approach, the Victims Unit attends, assists and repairs women victims of  armed conflict and works for the restoration of their rights.

In the implementation of assistance and support measures, as well as in those that are part of the integral reparation (rehabilitation, restitution, satisfaction, compensation and guarantees of non-repetition), the entity always takes into account the living conditions and characteristics that it entails the fact of being a woman in the territory and the community of which it is a part.

Of the total number of women victims registered, 546,126 have received compensation for a value of more than 3.5 billion pesos. Of those payments, 7,892 were for victims of sexual violence, up to September 2018, for a total value of around 153,000 million pesos.

In attention and humanitarian aid, to guarantee the minimum subsistence of female victims head of household, the Unit has invested 2.9 billion pesos.

With the emotional recovery strategy, the entity has accompanied 15,821 women survivors of the war individually and another 144,814 have participated in the group emotional recovery  strategy.

Many of the participants in these workshops are victims of sexual violence, such as Mariela Arroyo, who recognizes that "every step we take strengthens us a little more ... We want to be prepared for what follows".

On the other hand, 634,460 women have received the state message that exalts their dignity and recognizes their rights as victims of conflict. In addition, the Unit has accompanied in its process of return and relocation to 154,055 women victims, heads of household, throughout the national territory.

With the strategy of financial education workshops 104,392 women survivors of armed conflict have understood how to invest better resources and 33,854 women have participated in the Integral Services Fairs, in which they receive the institutional offer with differential and gender focus.

Based on the Protocol of Effective Participation of Victims, whose discussion and drafting was led by the Unit, half of those who make up all the tables of victims, in municipalities, departments and at the national level, are women. That is to say, around 452 women have in this instance the possibility of influencing the implementation of public policy of victims.

One of them is Elizabeth Andrade, representative of the district board of Bogotá for ethnic approach, who for this Day says: "I did not know what I wanted to do but I knew in the woman that I wanted to become. I am a woman with vision and autonomy, an empowered woman, full of dreams ".

Another leader is Olga Esperanza Rojas, representative of victims of forced disappearance at the district board, who proudly states: "Being a woman is the most beautiful thing, it is a gift from God because we can be mothers and serve society with an immense heart. we have a broken soul, we are always going to have our arms open to embrace and give hope, to be a woman is to be a leader”

These women clearly reflect the theme chosen by the UN for the International Day for Women's Rights 2019: "Let's think about equality, build with intelligence, innovate for change".