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Colombia elections: peace accord and, with it, safety of women at stake


The fate of the country’s historic peace process – and how it affects Colombians living in the midst of a fragile armistice – may be at stake. Both candidates said they would support implementing the peace process, but the details of that support were not always clear. This could conceivably frighten those most affected by the conflict, who have worked hard to broker peace.

The contest has a number of firsts. If 62-year-old former guerrilla Gustavo Petro wins on June 19, he will be Colombia’s first leftist leader. Petro won the first round with just more than 40% of votes. In this second round, he is up against central construction magnate Rodolfo Hernández, a 77-year-old populist.
For the first time, the companions of both finalists were Afro-Colombian women. Francia Márquez, a year 2018 Goldman Environmental Prize Winner with a long history of rural social activism, got on the ticket with Petro. For Hernandez is Marelen Castillo Torres, who spent his professional life in academia. She is currently Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Minuto de Dios.
The two women have taken on different roles in the campaigns. Márquez – who, after leading the women in her community against illegal mining and evictions from the community, has become a public figure in Colombia since the 2010s – has been rally against economic and political status of the country while on the campaign trail. Márquez has long advocated for women’s rights, economic empowerment programs, and access to land for the poor.
Little known about Castillo, who has no political history. she’s a recent addition to Hernández’s campaignand has not made much public appearances, although in media interviews she has spoken about promoting access to education.

Aside from a woman at the president’s right hand, what can Colombians – and specifically Colombian women, who bear the brunt of the Western Hemisphere’s longest-running armed conflict – expect from their future leaders?

History of violence related to conflict

Women in Colombia have suffered disproportionately for more than 50 years of conflict between government forces, guerrilla groups and paramilitary groups. However, women also play an important role as peace builders in ending that conflict and rebuilding their communities in its aftermath.

Sexual violence is widely used to gain control over territory and society. The most up-to-date data from Colombia’s victim registry documents more than 31,000 cases reported sexual violence. Millions of women are also affected by forced displacement, with many shouldering the economic responsibilities for their families after their husbands are killed, and leaving their homes and communities.
Studies have shown that Displaced women face high risk gender-based violence, including sexual violence. As a direct result of the conflict over genders, gender equality is a prominent feature of peace agreements – as is the recognition of need racial and ethnic equity.
Women play an important role in the process of negotiation, even forming ‘Gender rosette’a single space that includes representatives from the FARC, government and civil society and aims to ensure that all experiences of conflict are documented and resolved in the final agreement.

When it was finalized, Colombia’s Final Pact included commitments in key areas including rural reform, security and protection as well as victims’ rights.

“The recognition of racism, ethnicity and sexism as underlying forces in the conflict and the inclusion of provisions to directly address them … is a difficult achievement of civil society, particularly women, LGBTIQ, Afro-Colombian, and Indigenous organizations,” wrote associate professor of law at the City University of New York Lisa Davis in Columbia Human Rights Law Review.

Davis added: “Afro-Colombian organizations, with strong leadership of Afro-Colombian women, have developed a vision of the peace process that recognizes and redresses historical injustices and segregation discrimination against them, including gender discrimination, in order to ensure a lasting and inclusive peace.”

According to tKroc . Institutein charge of monitoring the implementation of the Agreement.
More broadly on the agreement, Washington-based research and advocacy organization WOL wrote on the accord’s fifth anniversary that “implementation of the agreement has been worse than anticipated, and opportunities to break the cycle of violence are evaporating.”
In spite of legally binding peace agreementThe rigor to which it is applied depends on the interest of the governing government.
Petro and Márquez have a clear outline about how they plan to carry out the peace process if elected. While Hernández and Castillo also said they would make it, their promises were more vague. Hernandez has become international media scrutiny because of what critics say is the gap between the campaign and the people behind it. CNN, for example, reports that while “Hernández’s most obvious pitch is his promise to ‘eliminate corruption'”… [he] Hernández has denied the allegation is scheduled to go to court next month, saying: “With the law in place, any candidate can be sued by anyone.”

For their part, the social leaders I’ve spoken to in recent weeks are not convinced that implementing the process will be central to Hernández’s government, meaning security conditions in rural areas. Villages can stay the same or even become more dangerous.

“Whether, how and when Colombia’s next president will implement the peace accord could be the difference between life and death for female leaders.”

Researcher Julia Margaret Zulver

Seeking peace and speaking out against drug trafficking, recruitment of children into armed groups and environmental degradation, have come at a heavy price for Colombia’s female leaders.

During the past seven years, I did research on how women pursue justice in a high-risk context. During that time, I’ve heard dozens of activist accounts being threatened, targeted, and hacked.
Many of the women I interviewed, often closely followed by government-issued bodyguards, said that not only did the 2016 peace process never really materialize, but the threats they faced. more intense than ever.

For example, their names have been included in the public death threats circulated by armed groups with a simple message: stop their social activities or die. As a result, many people are no longer living in their home communities, isolated from their families to protect their children.

Last week, A colleague and I spent time with Afro-Colombian female leaders in the northern Cauca province, a conflict-ridden region in the southwest of the country where Márquez was born and started his activism. In recent weeks, many of these women have told me they have received death threats by phone or text. Some say they narrowly survived assassination attempts.
Community leader Doña Tuta suffered a worse fate. She was killed in nearby Cali just last week. She is the latest in a long line of women human rights defenders who have lost their lives in Colombia since the Peace Agreement was signed.

For Colombia’s grassroots women leaders around the country, what is at stake in these elections is their ability to live safely in their communities. Whether, how and when the next president will actually implement the peace accord could be the difference between life and death for them.

Supporters of leftist Colombian presidential candidate Gustavo Petro stick banners before a rally in the Fontibon neighborhood in Bogota June 12, 2022.

The peace process is more important than ever

Although Colombia is on paper a post-conflict country, the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) keep increasing as other armed groups continue to clash violently.
Existing Colombia third largest number IDPs in the world, second only to Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Latin American state has described by Reuters as “the world’s most dangerous country for environmentalists”.
When the FARC was discharged in 2016, other armed groups took their place. Competing for control of valuable resources such as coca, illegal mining and shipping routes, these groups increase their targeting to social leaders who have promote implementation of peace treaties in their communities.
Petro and Márquez’s communication recognize that women have suffered in conflict in specific ways. It promises to fully implement the peace agreement with the FARC, and will focus on rural land reform, ensuring protection and environmental protection, which are necessary for women to be able to earn a living. enter and support their families.
Hernández has also said that he will implement the peace accord and will seek an agreement with the National Liberation Army, the largest leftist guerrilla group in the country, known by its Spanish initials. , ELN. Compared to Donald Trump part for him controversial commentincluding about the role of women as “ideal…[devoting] However, Hernández did not detail how the unique needs of women would be included in the implementation of this peace process.
Polls still tenset leads to Sunday’s vote. Colombians are frustrated by the country’s ongoing economic crisis, increasing levels of violence and diminishing opportunities. Thus, in addition to gender issues, Petro also Advocating for profound economic and social changewhile Hernández focused on post-pandemic growth and anti-corruption.
The broad and pressing needs of Colombian women – especially Afro-Colombian and Aboriginal women – may not necessarily be in advance of upcoming elections, however, are clear to all. Colombians are hoping for change. For the at-risk female leaders I work with, change doesn’t come anytime soon.



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