2023-06-07 22:30:00
Illustration: Angélica Herrera / ICRC Colombia
Colombia commemorates every May 25, the National Day for the Dignity of Victims of Sexual Violence, for this reason we want to highlight the work of Rosa and Margarita, two leaders who are part of the Table for Effective Participation of Victims of the armed conflict, and who have accompanied women in the process of accessing the necessary services after suffering sexual violence.
Transcription:
[Dramatizado]: There are definitely traces that not even time can erase.
When I was 28 years old, I was held by an armed group in Colombia.
The commander decided that I would be his. I was sexually abused by him and his entire group.
This lasted for months. I no longer felt like a human being. I became the object of it. When I finally ran away I was scared and thought I couldn’t trust anyone.
I arrived at a hospital, where I received medical attention. If the group found me, they would kill me.
So I had to get a whole new identity.
I survived the unthinkable…
[Adriana]: Sexual violence has serious physical and psychological consequences such as unwanted pregnancies, mental health effects, sexually transmitted diseases, among others.
This problem is one of the humanitarian consequences of armed conflicts and violence. It occurs in various forms and expressions such as rape, sexual slavery, sexual harassment and abortion, nudity, pregnancy, sterilization, marriage, planning and forced prostitution.
In addition, it is usually invisible because it is very difficult for the survivors and victims to tell what happened due to the effects that it has on their dignity, as well as the fear, guilt and shame that is experienced after having suffered this type of event. .
[Dramatizado mujer]: Good sir, we come to have a medical examination…
[Dramatizado hombre]: What kind of exam?
[Dramatizado mujer]: Sir, please let us in and there we tell whoever is going to attend us, what kind of exam it is.
[Dramatizado hombre]: If you don’t tell me what kind of exam it is… I can’t let you in.
[Dramatizado mujer]: Listen Estela, if I have to tell everyone what happened to me, I won’t go in.
[Dramatizado mujer]: Sir…”I need to have an exam done because I was raped…”
[Dramatizado hombre]: And who is the victim?
[Dramatizado mujer]: Sir, with all due respect, if you allow us to enter the doctor, we will tell him what has happened to us with all the details.
[Dramatizado hombre]: keep going…
[Dramatizado mujer]: Estela no, I’m very scared…
[Dramatizado mujer]: Look, Leidy, calm down… here they are going to help us
[Dramatizado hombre]: Good afternoon ladies, excuse me how can I help you…
[Dramatizado mujer]: We are here to take an exam…
[Dramatizado hombre]: What kind of exam?
[Dramatizado mujer]: No Estela, I don’t want to continue suffering with this. Having to recount what happened to me makes me feel worse and worse.
[Adriana]: In Colombia, there are still many barriers to care for victims/survivors of sexual violence.
An example of this situation has to do with the repetition of the account of the events to different officials.
Within the framework of the work that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) carries out in terms of sexual violence in terms of strengthening and accompaniment with community-based organizations, it works with indigenous communities, Afro-descendants, migrants, men, women, children , girls, adolescents and the LGBTIQ+ population.
[Adriana]: For this episode, some women who have suffered from this problem in the context of armed conflicts were interviewed in order to learn about the difficulties and needs they face to be attended by the institutional framework.
We will refer to victims and survivors to talk about people who have suffered sexual violence.
It is important to highlight that some of them prefer the term survivors because it empowers them and they feel they have more control over their lives.
On the other hand, the concept of victim refers to that person who has suffered some damage and better describes the affectation experienced.
Both terms are correct, but some prefer one or the other.
Rosa and Margarita, the female protagonists of this episode, had their names changed to protect their identities.
[Adriana]: Rosa is one of the leaders of the Effective Participation Tables for Victims of the armed conflict and has been accompanying women for more than 4 years in the process of accessing the necessary services after suffering sexual violence.
Rosa, how and why was the idea of helping women victims and survivors born?
[Rosa]: Because we saw many injustices, there was no timely psychological care, they never said “look, you need this” only entities came to take advantage, to take pictures of us there, then they left, then we brought them help, nothing…So after that we decided train us, and assert our rights and then we form an association.
And from there we are trained and continue fighting for our communities, what we did not have we are doing now with the people who have suffered violence, who have suffered the war.
[Adriana]: At the beginning of this episode, we were listening to a victim and survivor who wanted to inform the state authorities of what had happened and had some problems along the way.
Margarita, as a community leader, has experienced the process of caring for women who want to have access to justice.
Margarita, what is missing for complete care for women victims and survivors of sexual violence?
[Margarita]: Training to raise awareness of these issues in entities, be it a doctor or a nurse who has confidentiality, who does not have to enter from the doorman, letting them know what they are going to do inside.
In the case of the hospital that is a preferential care that is given immediate psychological help, that the doctor do his, that the pertinent route be followed based on the hospital and who should be called without re-victimizing the person, if it has already happened the hospital, then the person or the inspector will listen to it, but only one will serve for all of these, that is, a single statement that will be for all the facts because as you say in each part it is your turn to give a statement… that a code or something is created, that one tells them to know, how to say I, as the leader, accompany the affected person and that I have a code to say “I’m going to this and enter.”
[Adriana]: And this has been one of the challenges of the International Committee of the Red Cross in accompanying and supporting women victims and survivors of sexual violence.
Edgar Portilla, a psychologist in Pasto, and Maricela Lopez, an ICRC health officer in Bogotá, have worked on this problem in the south of the country.
[Edgar Portilla]: The work that is carried out with the survivors of sexual violence goes in several ways, one trying to raise awareness in front of the institutions of the importance of comprehensive care for the survivors due to the symbolic charge that sexual violence has on the bodies about not being able to decide, is that they are often silent, so the intention as a committee is to provide comprehensive care that implies psychological support that allows a little bit of the transit of that situation that is painful for them and the constant accompaniment of us in their process of recovery.
[Maricela López]: It must be taken into account that sexual violence is always an emergency, and depending on the types of sexual violence, medical attention responds to the needs of the victims.
When a rape occurs, the first 72 hours are key to prevent sexually transmitted infections and the first 5 days to prevent pregnancy. It is essential to highlight that at any time it is very important to go to the medical service to treat and care for the consequences of any expression of sexual violence.
[Adriana]: Victims and survivors of sexual violence have different needs and affectations in terms of health, protection, justice and economic security, among other aspects.
[Rosa]: Other things that should be, is that when a woman suffers this victimizing act, not only does she need psychological help but also economic help because in those days I think that with what spirit she goes to work, with what she goes to work, we have had To see these situations, a woman said “it is useless to me that they give me psychological attention if I don’t have to give my children at home, I don’t have to rent” so I say that it is also important, at least the In the early days when this event has happened, financial support is given and another thing that I always talk about is that the different entities be trained to provide adequate care because the truth is that one goes, we have had to go with women who They have experienced this victimizing event and the attention is terrible… They do not give it importance, as it did not happen to them…
[Adriana]: And this is why the International Committee of the Red Cross works together with the victims of these events, as well as the survivors’ organizations, accompanying them and guiding them in the care routes to which they are entitled.
Jacqueline Narvaez, in charge of sexual violence issues at the ICRC in Pasto, explains a little more…
[Jacqueline Narvaez]: So what we do through work with communities is strengthen those capacities that they have developed in response to the State’s response to their needs when acts of sexual violence occur.
We support the women with training regarding knowledge of routes, regarding empowerment and the strengthening of the community self-protection measures that they have developed, which allows them to adjust what we bring to what they have already developed and that makes them It is a more comprehensive and lasting action over time, compared to economic support we identify that many of the victims do not go to a state care route due to a lack of trust with the authorities and this means that they cannot meet some needs in the who are directly affected when they are victims of acts of sexual violence that come with other victimizing acts such as displacement, threats and particular situations.
[Adriana]: Jacqueline and what is that message that you would like to convey to those who listen to us?
[Jacqueline Narvaez]: It is important that victims have a state system to which they can turn without fear, with confidence, and repair the damage caused.
The routes are very important because the routes allow people to satisfy their needs according to the event that occurred, however, the disarticulation and lack of interest and the lack of motivation of the authorities and the awareness of these victims of sexual violence do not It shows and that is why we work hard to persuade the authorities and sensitize them to the needs of the victims, but particularly to access to the road.
[Adriana]: Rosa, who motivates her to continue working with the community…
[Rosa]: Sometimes out of fear one would like to give up, but when one goes to the communities, the smile of the children, and one goes down the street and the people, the people say to him, look, I need to do this, help me with this, one cannot deny… I say that we must help more and judge less, and many thanks to the International Red Cross and that they continue to support us and do not abandon us.
[Adriana]: May 25 is the National Day for Victims of Sexual Violence in the context of armed conflicts.
This is why society’s commitment is to continue supporting those who have suffered this scourge.
#Colombia #living #midst #conflict #season #episode #traces #time #erase