The Colombian Conflict: Women Survivors. A discussion on the normalization, revictimization, and postmemory of gender-based violence.
Published 12/10/2025 in Scholar Travel Stipend
Written
by Julissa Mendoza |
12/10/2025
The armed conflict in Colombia was a nightmarish period that has lasted 60 years, leaving a dark stain and puzzle in the minds of thousands of civilians. With the UN Resolution 1325 and the Colombian government’s admission of the disproportionate violence women endure in conflicts, an enormous bottom-up feminist movement has fought to address the violence women still face in the country. However, there are still effects that are not widely discussed. The Colombian armed conflict played a significant role in the formation of patriarchal systems that, especially with a negligent state, have worked to normalize gender-based violence and revictimization cycles. This has generated a distinct intergenerational trauma.
With an official beginning in 1964, the armed conflict in Colombia began with the formation of two revolutionary groups—FARC and the ELN (Justice for Colombia). The continued presence of Marxist revolutionary guerrilla groups was a testament to the persistence of land inequality, exclusion, and other issues since the 1940s. A constant state of conflict against the national guard proved to be detrimental to people’s livelihoods, communities, and the social fabric in Colombia (The International Institute for Strategic Studies). The conflict, which was accompanied by extensive drug trafficking rings, sparked a serious period of human rights violations, disappearances, and murders that affected hundreds of communities across Colombia. It is undeniable that the Colombian conflict disproportionately affected women specifically. With the UN Resolution 1325, there was an international agreement that women are harmed by conflict. Within this, it also recognized women as central agents in the peacebuilding process. As a result, countries have drafted and begun implementing National Action Plans to address these problems and protect women’s lives, rights, and participation (United Nations). The organization LIMPAL Colombia, a branch of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, has been a central watchdog during the implementation of Resolution 1325 in Colombia. As a LIMPAL Intern, I spent significant time systemizing reports and follow-ups on the Colombian government’s National Action Plan to comply with Resolution 1325. This resolution supports organizations like LIMPAL, which work to empower women in Colombia through political activism, community, and emotional support. However, despite all this work, there is a lack of reparations and focus on the extreme cycles of systemic sexual violence that women in Colombia have, and continue to, endure.
In specific cases, sexual violence is used as a tool to tear the social fabric of communities, as it occurred in Colombia (Inter-American Commission on Human Rights). In more general cases, women face a greater risk of sexual violence overall in lawless situations. This weapon of war is used to strip dignity and identity from the victims (ECCHR). To visualize the severity, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights reports, “In 2014, an average of two women were raped every three days in the course of the armed conflict in Colombia. Yet to date, there have been very few convictions for sexual violence – and no convictions at all in cases in which the perpetrator was a member of the armed forces.” (ECCHR). This systemized violence is a tool used against women, and the biggest obstacle to justice and reparations is a lack of convictions against the perpetrators. As Dr. Moreno shares, the biggest obstacle for public policy that seeks to address and help victims is the naturalization and overlooking of gender-based violence (Blanco). Not only have the paramilitary groups of the past been a source of pain and victimization for these women, but the current regime’s failure to provide reparations, security, and assistance also contributes to the revictimization of women in Colombia overall.
The state’s role is central, not only through providing justice to victims, but also in helping women access assistance in cases of sexual assault, femicide, or abuse situations. When the state is not present or active, the occurrence of sexual violence is normalized and continued. The failure to provide social services and justice is worse in rural or indigenous communities. This is especially true in areas where pre-existing exploitative institutions already constantly violate indigenous and minority rights. These women, often without access to financial freedom, educational, or career resources, suffer both the price of the conflict and the existing racist, patriarchal, and colonial structure in the country (LIMPAL). This combination fuels continued violence and revictimization.
A significant reason why this is so catastrophic in the lives of women, as recognized by the UN Resolution 1325, is how these patriarchal patterns do not just end once the conflict finishes. They establish norms that remain prevalent in society for generations (Gonzalez-Castro). Conflict societies, as argued by Gonzalez-Castro et al, have distinctly patriarchal structures that generate a distinct danger to women on all levels of life (Gonzalez-Castro). Polyvictimization, or multiple forms of victimization, is used by Gonzalez-Castro et al to convey these women’s experiences. As explained by Gonzalez-Castro et al, “Results show that levels of discrimination and lack of social acknowledgment are mediators in the relationship between polyvictimization and PTSD symptoms” (Gonzalez-Castro). The devastating detail about polyvictimization and PTSD is that prolonged trauma, based on revictimization, threatens to be an intergenerational experience. A victim’s own experiences with polyvictimization generates a distinct consciousness of the trauma and conflict, which is not kept in a single generation (Saile et al).
The Colombian conflict is a textbook example of how violence/armed conflicts disproportionately affect women. Despite a UN Resolution and international consensus over this material, it has yet to be the case that true implementation of effective public policy has occurred, especially in countries like Colombia, where gender-based violence continues to threaten women every day. The biggest obstacles to addressing these problems lie in the normalization, lack of acknowledgement, and the revictimization of women in different social spheres. The violence they experience does not only appear in forms such as rape or femicides, but it also appears in forms of economic instability, sexual tourism, and heightened domestic violence cases. Thus, without the proper assistance and reparations, these cycles deepen and continue to affect each generation without an end in sight.
Works Cited
Blanco Blanco, Jacqueline, et al. “LA VIOLENCIA SEXUAL CONTRA LA MUJER COMO EL PROCEDER TÁCTICO de LOS GRUPOS ARMADOS ILEGALES EN EL MARCO DEL CONFLICTO ARMADO INTERNO COLOMBIANO: LOS PROBLEMAS de LA VISIBILIZACIÓN, LA PREVENCIÓN Y LA ATENCIÓN.” Revista Republicana, no. 30, 28 Feb. 2021, pp. 125–146, https://doi.org/10.21017/rev.repub.2021.v30.a99. Accessed 1 Aug. 2021.
González-Castro, José Luis, et al. “Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms among Polyvictimized Women in the Colombian Armed Conflict: The Mediating Role of Social Acknowledgment.” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 12, 5 Oct. 2021, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.741917.
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. “Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia.” Oas.org, 2025,
www.cidh.oas.org/women/colombia06eng/part3co.htm?utm_source=chatgpt.com Accessed 31 Aug. 2025.
Justice for Colombia. “Colombian Armed Conflict.” Justice for Colombia, 2022, https://justiceforcolombia.org/about-colombia/colombian-armed-conflict/
LIMPAL. “COLOMBIA: Parties to Colombia Conflict Raped Almost 15,000 Women in 2001-09 - Study.” PeaceWomen, 3 Feb. 2015, www.peacewomen.org/content/colombia-parties-colombia-conflict-raped-almost-15000-women-2001-09-study?utm_source=chatgpt.com. Accessed 1 Sept. 2025.
Saile, Regina, et al. “Does War Contribute to Family Violence against Children? Findings from a Two-Generational Multi-Informant Study in Northern Uganda.” Child Abuse & Neglect, vol. 38, no. 1, Jan. 2014, pp. 135–146, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.10.007.
“Sexualized Violence in the Colombian Conflict.” Www.ecchr.eu,
https://www.ecchr.eu/en/case/sexual-violence-in-the-colombian-conflict/
The International Institute for Strategic Studies. “Conflict in Colombia: Increasing Violence, Political Changes and External Influences.” Www.youtube.com, 17 Mar. 2022,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLaMJ7nqmig Accessed 14 Mar. 2024.
United Nations. “Landmark Resolution on Women, Peace and Security (Security Council Resolution 1325).” Un.org, United Nations, 2000, www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/wps/
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