A/HRC/10/32
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Attorney-General’s Office was investigating. In this context, the Attorney-General’s Office
should retain exclusive competence over serious violations of human rights and international
humanitarian law and expedite the investigation of cases it receives.
4.
Sexual violence
60. Crimes of sexual violence in the context of the armed conflict remain characterized by a
high level of impunity. For example, in versión libre statements under the Justice and Peace
Act, 15 offences of sexual violence have been mentioned, but only 4 of them have been
confessed.26
61. Order No. 092, of April 2008, in an effort to combat sexual violence, and in the context of
the follow-up to its 2004 decision No. T-025 regarding displaced persons,27 the Constitutional
Court ordered the Government to develop plans to prevent sexual violence and to provide
assistance to displaced women who are victims of sexual offences.28 Also under Order No. 092,
the Court ordered the Attorney-General’s Office to investigate 182 specific cases. However, no
progress in these investigations has been reported to date.
62. In investigating these and other crimes, the Attorney-General’s Office faces structural
problems, including insufficient resources, weak data consolidation capacity, lack of appropriate
investigative frameworks and coordination difficulties.
H. Victims
63. Previous reports of the High Commissioner highlighted the need to guarantee the rights of
all victims and the importance of placing them at the centre of relevant public debates. In 2008
the plight of victims, and victims’ rights, found their way onto political and public agendas.
Women are the victims who have faced the most obstacles and the greatest stigmatization in the
pursuit of justice, and they have been hardest hit by displacement for fear of reprisals and
threats.29
26
This is out of a total of 18,431 crimes mentioned in such statements to date,
and 4,678 confessed.
27
By judgement No. T-025 of 22 January 2004, the Constitutional Court ordered the National
Council on Comprehensive Care for the Population Displaced by Violence to make a precise
assessment of the situation of the displaced population listed in the consolidated register and take
the necessary steps to guarantee resources for their assistance.
28
29
This order was reissued in September 2008 (Order No. 237).
A recent study has confirmed that the majority of victims are indeed women, most of
them in their 40s and with sole responsibility for three or four children or other persons.
They have primary education or none at all and limited opportunities to generate income.
(Angelika Rettberg, “Reparación en Colombia.¿Qué quieren las víctimas?” (“Reparation in
Colombia: what do victims want?”), November 2008).
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