A recent report released by the development organization Oxfam International found that sexual violence is rampantly used as a weapon of war in Colombia “to the extent that it has become an integral part of the conflict.”

Colombia has faced armed conflict since the 1850s and has been engaged in a civil war between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a leftist revolutionary group (FARC), and the National Liberation Army (ELN), a Marxist guerilla group, since 1964.

As a result of ongoing conflict, the report found that, “between 60 and 70 percent of Colombian women have suffered some form of sexual, physical, emotional or political violence.”

Women have struggled to achieve legislative measures that recognize sexual violence as a crime, but many believe that legal reforms will not change societal norms that tolerate these atrocities.

The biggest potential remedy is ending impunity for those who commit these crimes. One study found that 97 percent of these crimes go unpunished today.

Colombia: Sexual Violence as Weapon of War- IPS