Women's Voices Making an Impact in Columbia

Columbia has been dedicated to ensuring women's voices and opinions are the center of peace for the country. Approximately 1000 women have been asked to join the national movement to foster a long-lasting peace—the plan is not exclusive but inclusive of all diversity and ethnic backgrounds from all territories of Columbia. It has been 23 years since the last resolution meeting was approved by the United Nations Security Capital. Although many are grateful to speak publically about the lack of women's rights in Columbia they are translating a roadmap to future success. Columbia has achieved many victories for the importance of human rights and women's rights including gender equality. Over the past 2 decades, many laws have been passed.

Information gathered from meetings included, gender-based violence, lack of security measures, sexual violence, and armed conflicts. Several laws have been enforced, ensuring the safety of women over the last year Several laws have been enacted to prevent and punish violence against women, like Law 1257 in 2008. Nevertheless, the figures remain alarming. According to a report of the National Institute of Legal Medicine of Colombia (INMLCF) in 2014 there were 1,007 women murdered; 37,881 registered cases of violence against women at the hands of their intimate partner and 16,088 reported sexual violence cases were against women, 86% share of total victims of this crime, and an important number of them are girls and adolescents. The women who shared these issues want to see change.“We want this Action Plan to be a milestone for women in Colombia”, said Ana Feliza Rivas, a member of the Palmira municipal women’s confluence, a local women’s group. “We’ve been working on this for a long time. We want to see results. And for this to happen we want it to not be just another document.” told UN Women, this plan can be “a strategy that gives us guarantees for the consolidation of peace”, she said. “To all the women who have participated in this process, I say: it is okay to dream, but above all, we have the right for those dreams to become reality.”

Throughout the occurring events, the UN announced its support by providing more resources and allowing more members. Several countries (Norway, Sweden, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Canada) are funding these efforts, which are being supported by the International Cooperation Gender Table. Allowing diverse populations of women to impact the future of Columbia, is hopeful to all those who attend the UN Meetings withheld by the Columbian government.UN Women Colombia works mainly on incidence and assistance to support policy framework, and develop the capacities of civil society organizations and women as subjects of rights.

Further efforts to raise awareness of gender equality within political parties, public institutions, and society, and to tackle gender stereotypes, enhance legal empowerment, and strengthen institutional gender mechanisms, could help to create the space for women from diverse backgrounds to access decision-making posts, including in politics. This is all possible due to the ongoing support from UN Columbia and UN Women.

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Hello, my name is Catlynn Carrizales I am a sophomore at Poudre High I am actively enrolled in the International Baccalaureate Program and commonly right articles similar to women's rights globally. If you would like to see more of my work please visit here.

2023, 31 October. “How Women’s Voices Are Shaping Colombia’s Path to Peace.” UN Women – Headquarters, 31 Oct. 2023, www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/feature-story/2023/10/how-womens-voices-are-shaping-colombias-path-to-peace.