She was torn apart. Several were raped. They are accused of having relationships with men from the other side. Between February and March [] the bodies of three girls who had been raped were found in the area.
They mark their territory by leaving scars on the bodies of the women. It is a terror without sound. Sometimes they punish women for wearing low-slung jeans but other times they make them wear low-cut tops and miniskirts so that they can accompany them to their parties". By sowing terror and exploiting and manipulating women for military gain, bodies have been turned into a battleground.
The serious abuses and violations committed by all the parties to the armed conflict remain hidden behind a wall of silence fuelled by discrimination and impunity. It is women and girls who are the hidden victims of that conflict. Men have also been the victims of sexual violence in the context of the armed conflict.
But the sexual abuse and exploitation of women and girls have long been ignored, not only because violence against them has been perceived as belonging to the private sphere, but because fear and shame about sexual abuse have prevented many women from speaking out.
Women and girls in Colombia are the victims of domestic violence and community-based violence. But the conflict exacerbates these forms of violence and the gender stereotyping which underpins them. With their bodies viewed and treated as territory to be fought over by the warring parties, women are targeted for a number of reasons — to sow terror within communities making it easier for military control to be imposed, to force people to flee their homes to assist acquisition of territory, to wreak revenge on adversaries, to accumulate "trophies of war", and to exploit them as sexual slaves.
