Group rapes on the border with Venezuela increased, according to the Norte de Santander Observatory for Gender Affairs

Security on the border between Venezuela and Colombia has been worsening in recent years, as a result of poor political relations between the two countries, the exacerbation of armed groups and the pandemic. The past two years have witnessed massacres, clashes, murders and multiple violations of human rights. According to a complaint by the Norte de Santander Observatory for Gender Affairs, this violence is significantly affecting women, children and the LGBT community, through gender-based violence such as: collective rape, femicide, torture and trafficking in persons for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

“The armed control exercised over the trails by illegal armed groups has a direct effect on the lives and integrity of women and the LGBT community, especially because we are talking about gang rape and we notice a pattern that there is a lot of fear of denouncing, because there are no security conditions for them to victims can speak,” a delegate from the Observatory told Caracol Radio.

He added that of all the cases filed, only 22% reported and 14% obtained medical help, this is because there are many health centers that do not attend to victims for different reasons such as the lack of health insurance. As a result of negligence, women have died because of the consequences of this type of violence on their bodies.

These days Human Rights Watch -HRW-, also denounced that members of the Venezuelan security forces had developed joint operations with the Colombian guerrilla National Liberation Army in the dispute over border control.

“Members of the Venezuelan security forces, who have been implicated in human rights violations that have led to international investigations into alleged crimes against humanity, have conducted joint operations with members of the Eln and have been complicit in their abuses,” the NGO document reads, which it also called for the necessary measures to be taken as communities were the ones that were being affected by the violence that had been exacerbated in recent years.

This, as Minister Diego Molano mentioned to El Tiempo, confirms the hypothesis that the Colombian Government has had for some time: “The Human Rights Watch report confirms what the National Government has affirmed: in Venezuela, in the state of Apure, there is a collusion between the Bolivarian military forces and the Eln, associated with the Second Marquetalia, to confront FARC dissidents over criminal route systems,” noted Iván Duque's government official.

However, despite the fact that the claims of HRW and the Colombian Government about alliances at the border coincide, the NGO report also criticized the measures taken by Colombia in recent years, because despite the fact that armed groups have declined, measures to care for victim populations have been inefficient.

“Colombian authorities must urgently assess the humanitarian needs of those who fled Apure, and create and implement a humanitarian response plan to assist them. In Vichada they should consider declaring a 'state of public calamity', which under Colombian legislation would allow the government to allocate greater resources to provide assistance,” says HRW.

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