Gender, rights of victims and transitional justice: Challenges in Colombia

Abstract

This article presents a reflection on the gaps in the guarantees of the rights of women victims of armed conflict and the need to include gender analysis on measures to enforcement the rights to truth, justice, reparation and non-repetition. This analysis argues that despite international standards and experiences of other countries, in Colombia transitional justice process it has not been taken into account the realities, representations, transformations, needs and roles of women as survivors of the armed conflict. This state of blindness, in the current moment of peace dialogue with Colombian guerrillas, makes the participation of women and the recognition of this differential damages be absent. This article conclude that if it continues the absence of the women in the peace, that leads to impunity, Colombia cannot achieve a sustainable peace; and it will play the same logic of domination that for centuries has suppressed the voice of women.