The Sexual Exploitation of Adolescent Girls in the Armed Conflict in Colombia

Abstract

With the advancement of technology and professionalism, the state of modern conflict and warfare has changed in the past fifty years. Whereas in older conflicts like World War I where soldiers accounted for about 95% of victims, in many modern day conflicts, non-combatant civilians account for the vast majority of victims, being displaced, assaulted, and/or killed. Although gender violence is one of the strongest weapons of war, scholarly research continues to perpetually examine conflict as the domain of men. The role of the female has been so highly marginalized to that of the timeless victim that arguably the feminine has almost lost her voice in times of conflict. The voices of the undisputable victims though, the children, especially the girls, are often even further neglected. In Colombia, the case is no different. To account for the disparity of data regarding female violence in times of warfare and conflict, this paper will heavily draw from the experiences of women in militant zones in general to help further understand the effects of the armed conflict in Colombia on adolescent girls. While sexual violence has been primarily used as a weapon during war, the armed conflict in Colombia has the unique ability to subject women and girls to both exaggerated forms of oppression and violence as well as power and freedom simultaneously.