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_WORLD WATCH______________________________
____________________COLUMBIA____________________
IUDs implanted involuntarily
Rebel group cited for abusing women
The rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were the target of a new wave of criticism and protests after doctors announced that girls captured by the rebel group were implanted with contraceptive intrauterine devices (IUD)—probably against their will.
A legal team from the city of Bucaramanga, in northern Colombia, found IUDs implanted in nine “girls of war” of around 14 to 16 years old. The girls had been killed during a recent clash with the Colombian army. According to authorities, the girls were among some 200 minors recruited by force by the FARC and sent by the rebels to fight in the Catatumbo region against right-wing paramilitaries. The forensic report issued by the medical team said, “IUDs designed for adult women with children were implanted in the girls, despite the risk of making them permanently sterile.” The report added, “The girls were definitely submitted to sexual abuse, since their genitals showed an abnormal dilation, common in cases of intense sexual activity, unusual for such young age.”
The use of IUDs was confirmed by a rebel captured by the army. The FARC militant, interviewed by the newspaper El Tiempo, said that the massive implantation of IUDs in the “girls of war” was ordered by the secretary general of FARC. The rebel, nevertheless, denied that the girls were submitted to sexual harassment and said they had sex “at their own desire.”
The report sparked a massive wave of criticism against FARC. Jorge Lozada Alvarado, director of a nongovernmental organization dedicated to protecting children, strongly rejected “this brutal attack against the dignity of women and even more when imposed by force on minors.” Archbishop Pedro Rubiano Saenz of Bogota said, “This shows the level of brutality, inhumanity, and total lack of moral standards of the rebels. Once again, we have to ask ourselves if the rebels are really interested in helping secure a future for Colombia, or are they just winning time for their own purposes.”
Back to Catholic World Report February 2001 Table of Contents