September 30, 2008

Global Fund for Women condemns Violence against Women in Colombia

The Global Fund for Women expresses its serious concern and condemns the acts of violence committed against women’s rights activists in Colombia. We are deeply concerned by the recent attacks to our sister organization RUTA PACIFICA DE LAS MUJERES in Colombia, in particular the murder of women’s human rights defender Olga Marina Vergara, her son, daughter in law and grandson. Olga and the other women of the Ruta Pacifica have untiringly fought to defend and protect other women and their communities in a country affected by more than fifty years of war.

The Global Fund for Women maintains close collaboration with brave women in different parts of the world. We have been witnesses to their struggle to build peace in their countries and globally and to protect women’s human rights, and we have recognized these efforts through the mobilization of financial resources in support of their activities promoting a woman’s right to live without violence. The work of Olga and the women of the Rutal Pacifica de las Mujeres serves as an example, locally and internationally, of social resistance to the consequences of the war, peace-building and as an effective response to the problem of violence against women and girls.

Colombian Women have been at the center of every stage of unrest in Colombia, despite their pronounced absence from formal peace negotiations. Colombia boasts a strong, vibrant and diverse women's movement that is fighting to peacefully resist the impacts of the war on their communities. Despite repeated attack, disappearances, kidnappings and threats perpetrated against women leaders, women's groups continue to organize, develop agendas for peace and advocate for their implementation. In today’s incarnation of the Colombian civil war -a conflict that has forcibly displaced over 3.5 million Colombians, mainly women and children-, the FARC, the paramilitary AUC, the ELN and the Colombian Army continue to fight for territory and control in many parts of Colombia and women continue to bear the economic, political, physical and moral consequences of the war.

We urgent by call on the authorities of Colombia to carry out the pertinent investigations required to bring about justice in the murder of our sister Olga Marina Vergara and her familiy, as well as to protect the human rights of the women who work with the Ruta Pacifica de Mujeres, their families and all human rights activists in Colombia, offering the protection necessary to safeguard their lives and physical integrity. We ask that the authorities work to prevent future acts of violence that may be attempted against the women of the organization, and against women in Colombia. We call on them also to ensure that the right of women to promote and defend Women’s Human Rights is respected and guaranteed.

The Global Fund for Women continues to stand in solidarity with our sisters from the Ruta Pacifica de las Mujeres and all Women’s Rights Organizations in Colombia in their cause and to support their efforts to defend the human rights of women and girls.

 

In Solidarity,

Erika Guevara Rosas
Program Officer for the Americas/
Responsable de Programas para las Americas
Global Fund for Women/ Fondo Global para Mujeres