responsibility to protect

This Decree adopted the National Public Policy of Gender Equity (‘Política Pública Nacional de Equidad de Género’). It aims for the development of specific plans and programs that guarantee the rights of forcibly displaced women, including their right to a violence-free life. The policy also acknowledged the importance of the differential approach from the gender perspective, taking into account the particularities arising out of urban and rural context, Afro-Colombian, indigenous, and peasant women.

This law seeks to promote and guarantee women’s right to live free from violence. Its purpose is to promote prevention and protection strategies, sanctions, and integral reparation measures for any kind of violence exercised against women. This law fosters public policies to prevent and remediate different forms of violence, such as psychological, sexual, and physical violence. It also assigns broad responsibilities to each Ministry and Governmental Agency to support the fight against discrimination.

A “reconciliation agreement” is designed to save all participants time and stress. Courts can often take years to finalize a matter, but a reconciliation agreement allows for a single hearing to complete the case, including a sentence for the perpetrator and compensation for the victim. In criminal proceedings related to domestic violence, an offender often has personal influence on the victim (e.g., cohabitation or family relations). Therefore, there are special rules for concluding a reconciliation agreement.

Domestic violence is a specific crime committed in the family or within the place of residence or between relatives, between former or current spouses, or between other persons who lived together as a family but were not related or married to each other, regardless of whether the perpetrator of domestic violence lived in the same place as the victim, as well as threats of such acts (also see the