Sisma Mujer presented cases of violence against women in the El Salado massacre before the IACHR

The Sisma Mujer Corporation presented to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) a document through which it seeks that the body of the Organization of American States (OAS) recognize that the Colombian State had responsibility in the acts of sexual violence of which women and girls were victims in the massacre that occurred in the El Salado districtfrom El Carmen de Bolívar (Bolívar).

According to the National Center of Historical Memory (Cnmh), the massacre was perpetrated between the February 16 and 21, 2000 and left a balance of 60 people murdered. This violent event was awarded to 450 paramilitaries, who would also be involved in cases of sexual violence that the Corporation reported in the document presented to the IACHR.

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“Colombian justice has not yet responded to the responsibility of State agents and paramilitary groups that were financed, supported, created and tolerated by the State,” Sisma Mujer said in a statement, adding that the document presented to the Commission was filed within Petition 1-06 called “Massacre and forced displacement in the community of El Salado”. This petition, according to the Corporation, has been in the Inter-American justice system for several years, but has ignored the cases of sexual violence against women and girls that were presented in February 2000.

Sisma Mujer argued that, although both the Commission and the Court have made several pronouncements regarding the collaboration, tolerance and direct participation of the Colombian State in the paramilitary phenomenon, none of them have mentioned the sexual violence that was perpetrated. This is due, according to the Corporation, to the fact that The State has not given women spaces to report, with the necessary guarantees of physical and emotional protection..

In the El Salado massacre, The Corporation was able to document eight cases, of which five correspond to sexual violence against minors. “This being becomes the first case in which sexual violence that occurred in the context of massacres in Colombia is set as a precedent. It is also highlighted as the massacre where the most acts of sexual violence have been identified,” the Corporation said.

However, the number presented to the IACHR could be higher, taking into account that there are many female victims who have decided not to report for fear of retaliation against them. Added to this is the stigmatization that people who suffer sexual violence carry..

In fact, Sisma Mujer also reminded the Commission of the case of human rights leader Yirley Velasco Garrido, who has been persecuted and threatened for eight years. So much so, that In 2020, the IACHR granted him precautionary measures for his protection.. Like her, many women have been victims of intimidation so that they refrain from speaking about what happened, according to the Corporation.

Thus, Sisma Mujer demanded that the documented cases be given the importance they deserve and that are addressed from a differential and gender perspective. This includes taking into account that women were impacted differently by other violence such as the forced displacement that occurred after the massacre.

“Sexual violence generates serious effects on women who have not yet been subject to comprehensive reparation by the State”, concluded the Corporation.