Understanding threats against afro-descendant women human rights defenders: re-envisioning security

Colombia has the highest rate of assassinations of human rights defenders in Latin America, and women defending Afrodescendant and Indigenous territories are particularly at risk. Threatened Afro-descendant women defenders observe that the wave of violence against them, including femicide and rape, is designed to silence them, control their territories, and intimidate their communities. They can […]

Third party at the table: afrocolombian women’s struggle for peace and inclusion

August 24, 2016 marked the end of the nearly sixty-year-long conflict between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo, “FARC”). A month later, the Government of Colombia and the FARC signed a peace deal. In November 2016, they signed what came to be […]

Making rights a reality: access to health care for afro-colombian survivors of conflict-related sexual violence

In 2008, Colombia enacted Law 1257, which states that “women’s rights are human rights,” and that women’s rights include “the right to a dignified life,” including the right to “physical health” and “sexual and reproductive health.” In 2016, the Colombian government signed a peace accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (“FARC”), which included […]

In the crosshairs: centering local responses to SGBV in afro-colombian communities

The demobilization of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (“FARC”) since November 2016 has created a power vacuum, as multiple forces vie for areas previously controlled by FARC. This has resulted in new vulnerabilities in many majority Afro-Colombian areas of Colombia to SGBV at the hands of paramilitaries, guerillas, narco-traffickers, state actors, and mining and […]