This is how poverty is caused
Footprints: the indelible mark of racism
War Machines
Watch also the video of War Machines, here.
Hearing Commissioners’ Findings
‘Territory is everything’: Afro-colombian communities, human rights and illegal land grabs
In Colombia, the struggle over land rights often pits the cultural and economic interests of indigenous and marginalized peoples against the governments that are supposed to protect their rights under law. Rural Afro-Colombian women seeking to vindicate their land rights find themselves at the mercy of multiple vectors of discrimination: they are black; they are […]
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 […]
Gender violence against afro-colombian women: making the promise of international human rights law real
In the wake of the historic inclusion of racial and gender justice provisions in the 2016 peace accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (“FARC”), gender violence in Colombia continues with devastating effect, and with a particularly harmful impact on Afro-descendant and Indigenous women and their communities. Colombia continues to experience violence, including sexual […]