The armed conflict in Colombia has lasted for more than 50 years, producing devastating effects on human rights among the civilian population. The Report “¡Basta Ya! (That’s Enough!) Colombia: memories of war and dignity” (Centro Nacional de Memoria Histórica [CNMH], 2013) estimates that between 1958 and 2013 more than 220,000 people died, of whom 82 % corresponded to the civilian population. According to this report, between 1981 and 2012, paramilitary groups were responsible for 38.4 % of the cases of human rights violations. Another 27.7 % were attributed to “unidentified” armed groups. The guerrillas are identified as perpetrators in 16.8 % of the cases, and Law Enforcement in 10.1 %. The remaining percentage is attributed to “unknowns” (6.5 %) and the alliance between the far-right army and the State security corps 0.4 %.

More recent reports (Centro Nacional de Memoria Histórica [CNMH], 2016a) reflect the nearly six and a half million people displaced during the conflict, of which a little over 50 % are women (3,301,848) (CNMH, 2016a). Likewise, 60,630 people have disappeared as a consequence of the armed conflict between 1970 and 2015. Of the 55,012 cases for which the date of occurrence is known, 60 % took place during the 1996-2005 period while 20 % occurred in the 2006-2015 period. Thus, 8 out of 10 of the forced disappearances took place in the last 20 years. About half of these were perpetrated by paramilitary groups acting with the acquiescence of the State (46.1 %, according to the CNMH, 2016a, 2016b). Thus, as González (2015) pointed out, the expansion of paramilitarism in Colombia has led to a kind of mafia state, which is based on the terror and intimidation that irrigates on the population.

The crimes committed were intended to control, cover up, and destroy the very existence of these communities, worsening the damage caused by the social exclusion, economic exploitation, and discrimination they have historically and systematically experienced (Grupo de Memoria Histórica [GMH], 2010). From a gender perspective, a variety of international organizations have repeatedly manifested and documented that women and children from different regions, ethnic groups, and economic conditions have been particularly affected in this conflict. The insecurity of women, who are already one of the most unprotected and vulnerable groups due to their conditions of discrimination, has been aggravated by the presence of the different armed groups operating in daily life and exercising social control over their lives in both public and private spaces (ABColombia, Sisma Mujer, & US Office, 2013; Amnistía Internacional, 2004; Unifem, 2005).

We know that human rights violations, such as those occurring in the framework of the Colombian armed conflict, produce strong emotional damage, both individually and collectively. This impact has been extensively documented by social psychologists and mental health workers concerned with peace. In some cases, severe posttraumatic stress problems have been found (Fazel, Wheeler, & Danesh, 2005; Marshall, Schell, Elliott, Berthold, & Chun, 2005), and they are significant among displaced women (Vojvoda, Weine, McGlashan, Becker, & Southwick, 2008) and people who have been victims of torture. These profiles are usually combined with symptoms of anxiety and feelings of humiliation (Basoglu et al., 1997; Bojholm et al., 1992; Reis et al., 2004; Viñar, 2005). Moreover, there is frequently psychosocial damage, an impact on the life project, and the experience of a break with everyday life (Becker & Lira, 1989; Kordon, Edelman, Lagos, & Kersner, 1995). These effects are especially evident in those cases where the violence has caused the victims to leave their place of origin and face relocation and acculturation, stretching their capacity for long-term adaptation and worsening their quality of life (Bello, 2004; Boehnlein et al., 2004).

In the case of the women, they must also deal with the impact of the violence on their families and communities (Arnoso et al., 2014). Likewise, although sexual torture or the threat of using it also occurs in the case of men, there seems to be certain evidence of a differentiated impact in the case of the women, who can be blamed and made responsible for what happened. This stigmatization reinforces the invisibility in which sexual violence usually takes place, given that it is seldom denounced due to the victims’ fear of being branded (Mackenzie, 2010).

Furthermore, as reported in other contexts (Blanco, Díaz, & García del Soto, 2006), in the Colombian case, during the past 15 years polarization has undermined feelings of solidarity with the victims, with many of them being questioned, especially the victims of paramilitary forces. Some authors have pointed out the establishment of discriminatory hierarchies according to the type of victim, which were correlated with institutional efficacy or apathy, mobilization or social passivity (CNMH, 2013). The stigmatization affects the way the victims face these violations, their social representations about human rights and the groups in conflict (Doise, Spini, & Clèmence, 1998), and their demands for reparation in the process of constructing a culture of peace (Beristain, 2009).

However, in spite of the obstacles to overcoming the damage caused by the violence, there are many documented experiences where the victims organize. Previous studies conducted in other contexts with displaced populations, such as the one carried out in the Western Sahara, show that many women who fled to the desert with their children and a few belongings collectively organized themselves to present demands for peace and collective rights (Arnoso et al., 2014). The battle against being forgotten and the testimonial commemoration, along with social organization and political demands, are mechanisms that make it possible to give a social significance to both individual memories and collective traumatic events (Becker & Lira, 1989; Punamaki-Gitai, 1990). In Colombia, studies on populations displaced due to political violence show that the main element of growth, in the midst of the horror, is the creation of a collective identity as victims and as displaced persons. Taking on this identity means accepting being part of a process and having some rights as a displaced population, and a capacity for agency by virtue of this role (Bello, 2004).

The instrument included measures used in other contexts of human rights violations (Arnoso et al., 2014; Beristain, 2009), the indicators of which were reviewed by women from the Ruta Pacifíca adjusting its draft to the local context in order to ensure transcultural validity. The instrument consisted of a closed response questionnaire in which a series of questions were asked in various thematic blocks. 1. Regarding the types of violations experienced, the questionnaire made it possible to register diverse options. A cluster analysis allows us to summarize these options in five groups: a) harassment and destruction of property (including confiscations, forced entry and physical abuse, threats, persecution and vigilance, and the destruction of property; b) torture (physical, psychological, and/or sexual); c) violations of personal freedom (arbitrary detentions, forced recruitment, hostage-taking, and/or confinement); d) forced displacement (individual, family, or community); and e) violations of the right to life (executions, forced disappearances, and being injured in attacks). 2. Likewise, they were asked about the agents who had been responsible for the violations, differentiating between State agents, paramilitary groups, or guerrilla organizations (with the possibility that the person could mark more than one option about the agents who perpetrated the violence). 3. Regarding the consequences of the events, the questionnaire contemplates diverse consequences. A cluster analysis made it possible to summarize them in three subgroups: a) socio-affective consequences and the life project; b) specific consequences in women (include sexuality, gender identity, stigmatization, and loneliness and abandonment); and c) effects on health and the body. Moreover, an item was included that asked about the persistence of a strong emotional impact in the present, with a dichotomous response format (yes/no). 4. The actions undertaken by the women to deal with the events were regrouped, by means of a cluster analysis, into four sets of coping strategies: a) seeking support in organizations for women; b) transformation of the roles within the family (includes having become the main source of economic and affective support); c) avoidance strategies (not talking about the events and finding support in religion); and d) active communal coping (organizations to demand their rights, legal accusations, and/or the search for psychosocial support). 5. To explore the level of agreement with the reparation measures, the set of measures cited underwent a cluster analysis that summarized the information in five subgroups: a) memory and forgiveness measures; b) legal measures and reforms in the State; c) right to the truth, justice, and protection of victims; d) distributive measures (economic reparations, job, educational, and health support); and e) demilitarization and returning land and property. 6. The last block of the questionnaire included some items designed to collect socio-demographic characteristics of the women interviewed, such as age, region of residence, and ethnic identification.

The study was carried out following a feminist methodological perspective (Harding, 1987) with special concern in terms of rescuing often invisibilized experiences of violence and contributing, through research and action, to the process of learning and collective empowerment of victims starting from a shared redefinition of the facts. The study was carried out through a network of women’s organizations with a strong regional base and access to the victims (Afonso & Beristain, 2013) (Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres, 2013). It should be kept in mind that, at the time, the study was carried out in a context of war, with strong territorial control by different armed participants. The interviews lasted about three hours, and they were carried out by women specially trained by the project for the case documentation work, which included practical sessions of collecting testimonies and supervision. This experience of women telling their stories to another woman who accepts and accompanies them makes sense because it allows a previously unrevealed truth to emerge from the women (many of the women interviewed had never talked about their experience of violence because the female experience in the war had not been investigated to this extent). Participation was voluntary, and the confidentiality of the responses was guaranteed.

The present study confirms the lasting effect of violence on the Colombian women who were victims of human rights violations, as found in other contexts (Arnoso et al, 2014). Although only a minority identified the perpetrators (partly out of fear and partly due to their modus operandi of hiding their identity), the results showed that the paramilitary groups are more often identified as being responsible for the violence, confirming what was found in previous studies (CNMH, 2013, 2016b; González, 2015). This finding indicates that these groups viewed the civil population as a target, carrying out forms of violence indiscriminately. Especially in the territories under dispute, women were frequent victims of different armed actors due to the extension and indiscriminate nature of the violence, as well as permanent accusations of supporting the guerrilla or collaborating with “the other side” (Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los Refugiados (Acnur), 2005; Amnistía Internacional, 2004).

Forced displacements and violations of the right to life were reported by the majority of the women interviewed, showing the predominant pattern of victimization among them. While the former are mainly reported by women from Bogotá, Bolívar, and Risaralda, as territories of displacement, in some cases, or places of refuge, the executions and disappearances are pointed out significantly by the women who live in the regions of Antioquia, Chocó, and Putumayo (zones where the armed conflict occurs more openly), as well as by the population identified as Afro-American, especially prevalent in these territories.

In general, the women identified as indigenous, mixed-race, and Afro-descendants indicated higher levels of harassment and torture than those who defined themselves as “white”, probably due to the greater use of torture and harassment in rural areas. Likewise, the Afro-Americans, especially in the region of Chocó, mentioned significantly more violations linked to detentions, taking hostages, or confinement. This region has a strong guerrilla presence, and it is a territory actively disputed by the groups in conflict.

Torture was a type of violation significantly reported by the women from Bogotá, Chocó, Santander, and Valle, regions where there has been displacement from other areas and numerous massacres and reports of cruelty.

Overall, the paramilitary groups are most frequently mentioned by the women as being responsible for the events (coinciding with other studies on human rights violations in Colombia), and indigenous women and those of African descent reported a higher level of violence because the territories they live in have become the center of conflict in the war. In addition, they find themselves in conditions of marginalization and invisibility, which increases the violence and its impact on their communities. It is also possible that the ethnic category itself is relevant in explaining these greater reports of violence, as other publications have already pointed out (GMH, 2010).

Regarding the impact produced by the violence, the study shows that the female victims of violence in Colombia experienced serious consequences in their lives, given the massive and systematic nature of the violence. Each of them has suffered various human rights violations, often at different points in their lives. This cumulative and systematic nature can explain the relevance acquired by forms of violence that, at first glance, might seem less serious, such as harassment and destruction of property. In the same way, there is a frequent under-reporting of sexual violence, which tends to remain invisible due to the implications for the women in a social context that tends to stigmatize the victims, and where research exposes their private lives (Mackenzie, 2010).

Almost all of the interviewees mentioned consequences in the socio-affective area and in their life project, health and body, or specific to women. Moreover, more than half reported being affected to some degree in the present. The displaced women would be less affected in this sense, which seems to indicate a better emotional situation than the rest of the women, who continued to be surrounded by the violence. These results, although apparently contradicting the literature in this area showing a more acute significant impact on the displaced population (Vojvoda et al., 2008; Boehnlein et al., 2004), could indicate that these collectives can manage to rebuild their lives in safer contexts and reduce the current impact, while women who have continued to live in the midst of the violence are more affected by the continuing war. The displaced communities have, in some way, constructed support networks that allow them to rebuild their lives.

This study reinforces the idea that the population affected by the violence acted to defend their lives and used strategies to recover after the violence. The more violations reported or the greater the consequences described, the more strategies were employed by the women interviewed. The ways the women coped with the violence involved a combination of preservation mechanisms (silence, religion) and protecting the family and loved ones (focus on the family, trying to make sense of it, rebuilding their lives), in addition to denouncing the events or looking for mutual support in organizations (direct coping, filing a complaint, organization). This combination shows an adaptive profile to changing contexts of violence.

Although the majority of the women talked about the impossibility of repairing the damage, a large number demanded distributive-type measures to improve their lives and demilitarization to make possible a change in their situation. These were followed by measures of truth, justice, and protection of the victims, especially compared to measures of memory and forgiveness, which were mentioned less. This is consistent with the needs expressed in the accounts collected in the recent report by the National Centre of Historical Memory (CNMH, 2016a) which, however, warns that in practice, a legal system capable of responding to the demands of justice for victims still does not exist from the perspective of victims, even in those cases in which punitive sentences were pronounced or in which there were legal consequences regarding the facts that had taken place.

In any case, what the study proves is that women have a broader view of reparation than what is usually referred to, in contexts of transitional justice, and that reparation is associated with overcoming the war in their territories and transforming their life conditions and opportunities through the exercise of so-called economic and social rights. For them, the priority would be to modify the context of danger and threat to life.

The importance of this study is that it collects, for the first time, a broad sample of female victims in the country and offers a preliminary analysis of the impact of the violence, the main coping strategies, and the relevant reparation measures in the Colombian context, all of this from the perspective of the women, who are frequently invisible in armed conflicts and political transition processes (Nesiah, 2006). The study can also make some recommendations for a future truth commission in Colombia to follow, in the midst of the scenario of the peace process initiated two years ago with the guerillas and negotiations with paramilitary groups.