Colombia: Using legal frameworks to address sexual violence

In April 2021, the End Violence Lab at the University of Edinburgh launched the Colombia INSPIRE Coordination Course, a 15-module online course with support from national and transnational stakeholders: the National Alliance to End Violence Against Children and Adolescents of Colombia, the Colombian Institute for Family Welfare (ICBF), USAID HEARD, the CDC, and Together for Girls.

The course content has been co-designed with national partners for departmental level decision-making authorities and their practitioners engaged with the implementation, monitoring, and scale-up of INSPIRE interventions. As part of the End Violence Lab’s commitment to global learning, this real-time piece addresses Colombia’s efforts to improve its legal framework around sexual violence with insights shared from the north-central Santander Department by an engaged course participant.

Sexual Violence Against Children in Colombia

Sexual violence can happen everywhere children live their lives, including at home, in schools, in the community and online. A study conducted by the CDC, IOM, Together for Girls, and USAID in 2018 provided data to help policymakers and practitioners address this violence crime. According to the Colombia Violence against Children and Youth Survey 2018, 15 per cent of girls (about one in seven) and 8 per cent of boys have experienced sexual violence in Colombia, and around 70 per cent happen in the home.

Colombia’s Legal and Forensic Services notes that between 2015 and 2018, 91,982 cases of sexual violence against children were reported, a daily average of 55 per day—the number raised to 43,127 reports in 2019, a daily average of 118. In February 2021, Colombia passed Law 2081, which establishes that ‘offences against the freedom, integrity and sexual development of minors, or incest’ are considered serious crimes and can be persecuted without a time limit. This means survivors of sexual violence now have the chance to file their claims at any point in time. This is important because stigma, shame and fear can prevent survivors of violence from reporting for years, even decades after an abuse is committed.