Recommendations

To the President of the Republic:

• Provide a clear, inter-ministerial plan for implementation of the measures of prevention and punishment of violence against women and protection and care of victims, as well as programs outlined in the Constitutional Court’s ruling Auto 092 (on displaced women), in consultation with Colombian civil society. The plan should specifically articulate how the government’s 2012 National Integrated Plan to Guarantee Women a Violence-Free Life will address displaced women and girls.
• Commission a national survey on the scale of sexual violence related to the armed conflict, and on intra-familial and sexual violence experienced by displaced individuals. The survey should include the collection of quantitative and qualitative data, and collect disaggregated data related to geography, ethnicity, age, number of displacements, sexual orientation, disability, and other relevant categories. The data should be considered in any adjustments of current laws and policies and be used as a baseline for monitoring successful implementation of laws, policies, and programs.
• Establish an independent commission composed of state representatives, including the human rights ombudsman’s office, and civil society representatives to conduct a rigorous review of current practices in the institutions that constitute the government’s response to sexual and intra-familial violence, both within and outside the conflict. The commission should review justice processes relating to such violence, identify the causes of impunity for these crimes, assess breakdowns in referral pathways to other services, and evaluate where services are not responsive to the needs of displaced women and girls. The commission should examine how multiple forms of discrimination impact the government response to gender-based violence, should work in coordination with other government commissions that monitor implementation of policies and laws on violence against women, and review reports of civil society organizations regarding the implementation of Law 1257/2008 and Auto 092.
• Publicly declare the prevention, punishment, and the eradication of gender-based violence a priority of the executive within its broader goal of ending the conflict, reestablishing peace, and strengthening the rule of law.
• Ensure, through the Presidential Advisor on Gender Equity, that the document prepared for the National Council for Economic and Social Policy (Consejo Nacional de Política Económica y Social, CONPES) related to the 2012 National Integrated Plan to Guarantee Women a Violence-Free Life adequately addresses the risks and obstacles faced by displaced women and girls.
• Ensure sufficient resources so that the human rights ombudsman’s office, charged with the responsibility to care for, accompany, and provide legal representation to victims of sexual violence, will have dedicated personnel to complete this function throughout the country. Resources should be used to reinforce the division for the protection of women, girls, and adolescent victims and the delegate for the rights of children, youth, and women.
• Tailor education campaigns envisioned in the National Integrated Plan to Guarantee Women a Violence-Free Life to marginalized populations, like displaced women and girls.

To Congress:

• Pass into law draft bill number 037 on access to justice for victims of sexual violence, introduced on August 1, 2012.
• Update the criminal code to define rape and sexual assault to include penetration with other body parts or objects, in addition to penile penetration.
• Update the criminal code to recognize lack of consent as an essential element in crimes of sexual violence, rather than use of force, and ensure that coercive circumstances can be recognized as evidence of a lack of consent.
• Pass no legislation that allows crimes of sexual violence to be investigated or tried in military jurisdiction.
• Ensure that budget allocations for ministries, the human rights ombudsman’s office, and the judiciary are sufficient to provide appropriate staffing and resources to deal with gender-based violence.
• Ask the Presidential Advisor on Gender Equity to include in her annual report to Congress on the implementation of Law 1257/2008 specific information about measures adopted by entities of the state to prevent and punish gender-based violence and to provide services to survivors, including the internally displaced.
• Include the participation of women victims and civil society experts on violence against women in hearings on the implementation of Law 1257/2008 and Law 1448/2011.

To Colombian Government Ministries and Agencies:

To all Ministries and Government entities that have contact with victims of gender-based violence, including the Ministry of Health, the attorney general’s office, the National Police, family commissioners, the INMLCF, the ICBF, institutions within the Public Ministry, the Ministry of Interior’s National Protection Unit, and the Department of Social Prosperity’s Victims Unit:

• Expand current training programs on gender-based violence for all employees to ensure any personnel that interacts with victims understands how to:
  • Apply the normative framework governing gender-based violence in Colombia;
  • Detect signs of gender-based violence;
  • Work and communicate with victims of gender-based violence;
  • Educate victims of gender-based violence about their rights, including protection measures, judicial remedies, and medical treatment;
  • Navigate the referral pathway, including contacting counterparts at other government institutions to ensure victims reach needed services; and
  • Implement protocols and models of attention for gender-based violence.
• Ensure training programs are offered on a consistent basis, with refresher courses available to all employees. Training should be mandatory for employment.
• Design and implement mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating the impact of these trainings on the performance of official duties.
• Provide reference materials to employees that include checklists for detection, treatment, referrals, and education of victims on their rights.
• Post notices in places where victims of gender-based violence seek care and assistance that clearly outline their rights.
• Establish monitoring and evaluation programs to ensure implementation of laws, policies, protocols, and guides for providing care. Quickly address failures of implementation, and disciplinarily sanction willful negligence by individual officials.
• Monitor and ensure that allocated budgets are adequate for the resources and staff needed to address gender-based violence.
• Establish and enforce a zero tolerance policy for discrimination, abuse, or negligence by government employees toward victims of sexual or intra-familial violence.
• Raise awareness among government employees that gender-based violence is a crime, not a cultural practice.
• Establish clear policies on maintaining victim confidentiality and explain to victims how their personal information will be used.

In addition, the following state entities should take the specific steps:

Ministry of Health

• In coordination with the INMLCF:
  • Ensure all medical professionals who may have clinical contact with gender-based violence victims are trained in protocols related to the forensic examination of victims of gender-based violence;
  • Encourage the incorporation of forensic examination and medical treatment of victims of gender-based violence in medical school curricula; and
  • Provide immediate support to doctors called on to perform forensic examination of victims, in particular new doctors completing their mandatory year of service.
  • Educate medical providers on the correct procedure for claiming conscientious objection, and disciplinarily sanction misuse of conscientious objection.
  • Identify and eliminate barriers to health services for victims of sexual and intra-familial violence, particularly displaced women and girls. Minimize transport and administrative costs related to seeking health services.
  • Ensure all health facilities comply with new gender-based violence reporting requirements for the National Public Health Vigilance System (Sistema Nacional de Vigilancia en Salud Publica – SIVIGILA) of the National Institute of Health.

Department of Public Administration

• Develop a public, integrated database for all government data on gender-based violence. Work with all ministries and government entities to conform data collection to a similar, disaggregated format, to allow for coordination, sharing, and comparing of data.

Attorney General’s Office

• Develop detailed technical protocols on the investigation and prosecution of gender-based violence crimes, providing specific instruction on pursuing cases that lack physical evidence.
• Ensure prompt, thorough investigations of all reported crimes against displaced women. In cases of displaced leaders, when multiple crimes against a single leader are reported, conduct a comprehensive investigation that examines all of the alleged crimes in order to identify possible connections and patterns that could help to determine all responsible parties.
• Ensure private spaces for reporting cases and providing testimony.
• Develop trust-building programs within displaced communities to overcome the fear many women and girls have of reporting violence to authorities.
• Ensure that prosecutors understand the registration process for displaced persons and counsel displaced victims of intra-familial violence filing complaints on their right to also register a rupture in the family unit to ensure continued access to emergency humanitarian assistance.
• Implement protection programs for victims of gender-based violence, as envisioned under Law 1257/2008, so that victims receive adequate and durable protection.
• Review cases of intra-familial violence closed at the victim’s request in the period when intra-familial violence was classified by law a private offense in 2011 and 2012, to ensure that the victim was not threatened into dropping the case and that she remains safe from further violence. Re-open closed cases where necessary.
• Identify and eliminate barriers to justice for victims of sexual and intra-familial violence, particularly displaced women and girls, including minimizing transport and administrative costs related to seeking justice.

National Police

• Develop training programs on working with victims of gender-based violence for all personnel that interact with victims. These training programs should complement and further develop the Ministry of National Defense’s Public Policy on Sexual and Reproductive Rights, Gender Equity and Gender-based Violence, Sexual and Reproductive Health, with an emphasis on HIV.
• Develop detailed, technical protocols on the investigation of gender-based violence crimes, providing specific instruction on pursuing cases that lack physical evidence and on interviewing victims and maintaining a victim’s confidentiality during the investigation.

Family Commissioners

• Counsel displaced victims of intra-familial violence filing complaints on their right to also register a rupture in the family unit to ensure continued access to emergency humanitarian assistance.
• Ensure private spaces are used for reporting cases and providing testimony.
• Educate women about protection programs for victims of gender-based violence, as envisioned under Law 1257/2008, so that victims who report violence receive adequate and durable protection.

INMLCF

• Monitor implementation of protocols related to the forensic examination of victims of gender-based violence to ensure implementation across the institution.
• Implement a certification process, whereby all forensic doctors confirm victims received information about their rights to other services, including healthcare, and referrals to relevant services.
• Work with the Ministry of Health to:
  • Ensure all medical professionals who may have clinical contact with gender-based violence victims are trained in protocols related to the forensic examination of victims of gender-based violence;
  • Encourage the incorporation of forensic examination and medical treatment of victims of gender-based violence in medical school curricula; and
  • Provide immediate support to doctors called on to perform forensic examination of victims, in particular new doctors completing their mandatory year of service.

ICBF

• Ensure that adult victims of domestic violence who have lost custody of children are not pressured to return to abusive relationships in order to have the economic means necessary to be reunited with their children.
• Develop clear protection protocols, with the Ministry of Interior, for children of threatened displaced leaders.

Public Ministry

• Work with civil society to establish and fund independent accompaniment programs to ensure that sexual and domestic violence victims are guided throughout the referral pathway by knowledgeable staff trained in psycho-social support and who understand the unique needs and challenges faced by displaced women and girls.
• Provide support and accompaniment to victims who have become pregnant after rape, including with respect to their decision concerning whether to terminate the pregnancy.
• Establish as a priority the dissemination of information on sexual and reproductive rights, including relevant decisions of the Constitutional Court on legal abortion.
• Disciplinarily sanction officials who do not uphold the established rights of victims of gender-based violence, including the right to access a safe and legal abortion after rape or incest.

Ministry of Interior’s National Protection Unit

• Ensure that all government officials understand the new gender and women’s rights protocol for its protection program—as outlined in Resolution 0805/2012— and monitor implementation of this resolution.
• Work with affected leaders to develop more durable protection solutions for displaced women leaders.
• Enforce protection measures in Law 1257/2008 and ensure that women leaders who are victims of gender-based violence are provided all necessary measures to guarantee their safety. This should include measures not typically applied by the unit, such as the installation of deadbolt locks or security cameras in victims’ homes.
• Ensure that displaced women leaders that are victims of sexual violence seeking or already under the unit’s protection are guaranteed prompt, free, and comprehensive medical treatment after rape.
• Implement Resolution 0805/2012— so that protection measures extend to the nuclear family of displaced women leaders when necessary.
• Develop clear protection protocols, with the ICBF, for children of threatened displaced leaders.

Victims’ Unit of the Department of Social Prosperity

• Ensure that all victim assistance programs are designed to address gender-based violence.
• In cases of new families registering as displaced, list both spouses or partners as heads of household.
• Ensure that displaced women and children continue to receive aid after a rupture in the family, even if the registered head of household is a male.
• Train justice officials, representatives of the human rights ombudsman’s office, and family commissioners to understand the registration process for displaced persons, so that they can counsel displaced victims of intra-familial violence on their right to register a rupture in the family unit to ensure continued access to assistance.
• Educate displaced persons about the opportunity to register changes in the household unit.

To Donors and the International Community:

• Continue to provide technical support to Colombian ministries and agencies charged with addressing gender-based violence.
• Fund programs to establish effective training models on the care of victims of gender-based violence, including online trainings.
• Monitor funded programs to ensure implementation.
• Require a gender analysis for funded projects, including an assessment of whether projects can contribute to preventing and addressing gender-based violence.
• Work with the Colombian government to address resource gaps in the funding programs related to gender-based violence prevention, redress and the care of victims, and develop strategies for the government to continue funding programs after donor assistance expires.