The Colombian Government’s Victims Unit will talk about the mechanisms and progresses made in the attention, and reparation of women victims of the internal armed conflict, in a forum on reparations in cases of sexual violence and gender-based violence, which is taking place in Guatemala from the 22nd to the 24th of September.

The Colombian Government’s Victims Unit will talk about the mechanisms and progresses made in the attention, and reparation of women victims of the internal armed conflict, in a forum on reparations in cases of sexual violence and gender-based violence, which is taking place in Guatemala from the 22nd to the 24th of September.

In the meeting, that begins today, international agencies of the United Nations, social organizations, Guatemalan judges and prosecutors, and representatives of this Central-American government, will exchange experiences. ‘In Colombia, the cultural patterns of violence and discrimination against women, in the context of the armed conflict, aggravated the risks and damages that impacted the women’s life projects in an individual manner, but also in the political projects of women organizations,’ said Paula Gaviria Betancur, Victims Unit’s head director, on Tuesday.  

However, thanks to the women’s resistance against the armed actors of the conflict, and the implementation of a public policy for victims, today it is acknowledged that they are contributing and influencing policies. As a consequence, the route of assistance and reparations incorporated a gender-based approach, and the list of sexual crimes taken into account was broadened so as to facilitate the inclusion in the Sole Registry of Victims, among other advances.

‘More than 303,000 women have already received their compensation, as part of the reparation they are entitled to, as victims of the conflict. I would also like to highlight that around 50,000 of them have been supported in their emotional and psychosocial recovery,’ Gaviria said. ‘The Victims Unit has implemented a reparation strategy specifically directed to women who survived crimes against their sexual integrity and freedom, and we see they are self-confident again, carrying on with their life projects,’ she concluded.