The femicide in Colombia: the recognition of a social phenomenon into a crime* Feminicidio en Colombia: reconocimiento de fenómeno social a delito O feminicídio na Colômbia: o reconhecimento do fenômeno social ao delito Omar Huertas Díaz1 Universidad Nacional de Colombia Nayibe Paola Jiménez Rodríguez2 Universidad Nacional de Colombia DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21803%2Fpenamer.9.16.341 Abstract This article aims to show the development of the notion of femicide in Colombia. This document outlines its historical background by analyzing how the empowerment feminist movements have made the society aware of this phenomenon. It was the Supreme Court, the highest judicial body that used this notion to give a decision on an appeal. Finally the description of femicide as a separate offense was enacted as law in July, 2015, in Colombia. Key words: Femicide, Social phenomenon, Criminal offence. Resumen El presente artículo tiene como finalidad evidenciar el desarrollo y construcción del término feminicidio en Colombia, a través de la descripción de sus antecedentes, hasta el momento que inicia su consolidación gracias a la motivación de los movimientos feministas, así como de mujeres en Latinoamérica, dando paso al uso del término en Colombia por parte de la Corte Suprema de Justicia, entidad que lo emplea en una sentencia que dirime un recurso de apelación. Finalmente se realiza la descripción del feminicidio como un delito autónomo, pues Colombia para el mes de Julio de 2015 sanciono la norma que lo contempla como tal. Palabras clave: Feminicidio, Fenómeno social, Delito. Resumo Este artigo tem como objetivo mostrar o desenvolvimento e construção do feminicídio na Colômbia, através da descrição de sua história, iniciando sua consolidação graças à motivação do movimento feminista e de mulheres na América Latina, dando passo para o uso do termo na Colômbia pelo Supremo Tribunal de Justiça, uma organização que utilizou o termo em uma sentença a um recurso de apelação. Finalmente, se efetua a descrição do feminicídio como uma infracção autônoma para a Colômbia no mês de julho de 2015 que sancionou a norma validando o termo. Palavras-chave: Femicídio, Fenômeno social, Crime. How to cite this article: Huertas, O. & Jiménez, N. (2016). Feminicidio en Colombia: reconocimiento de fenómeno social a delito. Pensamiento Americano, 9(16), 110-120. http://dx.doi.org/10.21803%2Fpenamer.9.16.341 Received: April 14 de 2015 • Accepted: September 28 de 2015 * Artículo resultado de Investigación en el marco del proyecto “Observatorio de política criminal” desarrollado por el Grupo de Investigación “Escuela de Derecho Penal NULLUM CRIMEN SINE LEGE UN”, de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia, l. Código COL0078909, Reconocido y Clasificado en categoría D COLCIENCIAS. 1. Abogado, Profesor asociado de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia, PhD © en Derecho de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia, PhD © en Educación de la Universidad Simón Bolívar; con Maestría en Derecho Penal, Maestría en Educación, Máster en Derechos Humanos, Estado de Derecho y Democracia en Iberoamérica. [email protected] 2. Abogada, Especialista en Derecho Público, Magíster en docencia e investigación universitaria, investigadora del grupo de investigación “Escuela de Derecho Penal NULLUM CRIMEN SINE LEGE UN” de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia, y del Grupo de Investigación en Derecho Penal, Criminología y Política Criminal “CESAR BKRIA” de la Universidad Autónoma de Colombia. [email protected] Pensamiento Americano Vol. 9 - No. 16 • January-June 2016 • Corporación Universitaria Americana • Barranquilla, Colombia • ISSN: 2027-2448 • pp. 110-120 http://coruniamericana.edu.co/publicaciones/ojs/index.php/pensamientoamericano Omar Huertas Díaz, Nayibe Paola Jiménez Rodríguez 111 Introduction It is important to emphasize that violence Femicide can be seen as a crime of hatred, against women has not always been termed as a genocide against women, which is possible femicide; in the past, the term uxoricide was because of the ideological and social context used to denote the deaths of women who were of patriarchalism, misogyny, and normalized caused by spouses, based on jealousy, and con- violence against women. Responsibility of the sidering it as a reaction according to the hus- State for crimes committed either by action or band in case of adultery. omission and although the direct involvement of the State is very difficult to verify, it is not the Later, and without identifying who the vi- failure of due diligence that explains the impu- olence was, it was called as a conyugicidio to nity of femicide and violence against women refer to the crime of the spouse, whether male (Donoso, 2008, p.9). or female, to give an opening to the concept of homicide or unnatural death of a man, term that included women, thus making invisible Recently, for Latin America and Central for institutional statistics and policies the mur- America, the phenomenon of feminicide can der of women. be exacerbated by the phenomena of mili- tarization, political conflict or war because it is 1. Development revealed that women are still spoils of war, of 1.1. What is femicide? sexual torture, of exploitation. Rusell, argues that the term femicide arose for the first time in the text A Satirical View of It is then femicide, as expressed by the In- London at the Commencement of Nineteenth ter-American Institute of Human Rights, the Century (1801) to call “the murder of a wom- death of a woman of any age, extreme expres- an”; and it was the term used to describe vio- sion of violence against women based on pow- lent acts committed against women, first used er, control, objectification and domination of by her to testify before the International Tribu- men over women; usually resulting from re- nal on Crimes against Women in Brussels in peated and systematic violence, cruelty and ha- 1976, and then used by Mary Anne Warren in tred, within the framework of the absence of an 1985 in her book Gendercide: The Implications effective public policy. of Sex Selection. As Jiménez (2012) affirms, femicide are the In 1992, Radford and Russell, in their classic forms of violence that can conclude in murders text Femicide, refer that femicide is one of the or suicides of women, and it is considered as a “...most harrowing and sensitive dimensions crime against humanity, within the framework of male violence ...”and is located in”... the final of an institutional collapse. terror against women, which includes a vari- Pensamiento Americano Vol. 9 - No. 16 • January-June 2016 • Corporación Universitaria Americana • Barranquilla, Colombia • ISSN: 2027-2448 • pp. 110-120 http://coruniamericana.edu.co/publicaciones/ojs/index.php/pensamientoamericano 112 The femicide in Colombia: the recognition of a social phenomenon into a crime ety of verbal and physical abuses such as rape, For Carcedo and Sagot, the concept of fe- torture, sexual slavery, incest and extrafamilial micide also makes connections between the child sexual abuse, as well as psychological ag- various forms of violence, establishing what gression...” (IIRH, 2006, p.34). Liz Kelly (1988) calls a continuum of violence against women. From that perspective, rape, For her part, Professor Monárrez in Mexi- incest, physical and emotional abuse, sexual harassment, the use of women in pornography, co has studied the context of Ciudad Juárez to sexual exploitation, sterilization or forced ma- understand and interpret the characteristics ternity, etc., are all different expressions from and motives of the murders of certain women, the oppression of women and not disjointed and she has also sought to establish the reason phenomena. At the moment when any of these for the impunity created and sustained by the forms of violence results in the death of wom- State in the face of the inevitable increase of en, it becomes femicide (IIRH, 2006). deaths, made in the absence of research, which allows him to establish a classification of fem- To explain femicide, Lagarde adds: icide as follows: family femicide (intimate and infantile), systemic sexual femicide (organized It is in the gender domain: characterized or disorganized) and femicide by stigmatized by both male supremacy and oppression, occupations (carried out by women), and con- discrimination, exploitation and, above all, ceptualizes it as the murder of women for rea- the social exclusion of girls and women, as sons associated with their gender, considering Haydeé Birgin points out. All this, legiti- it as an extreme form of gender violence, which mized by a devaluing, hostile and degrad- is exercised by men against women in their de- ing social perception of women. The arbi- trariness and social inequality are enhanced sire for power, domination or control. with social and judicial impunity regarding crimes against women. That is, violence is According to Carcedo and Sagot, in Costa present in different ways throughout the Rica, they documented the individual experi- life of women prior to homicide. After the ences as collective to affirm that it is urgent to homicide perpetrated, it continues as insti- recognize the disruptions caused in the life of tutional violence through the impunity that women by the violence exerted by men. The characterizes particular cases, such as that main objective of this study was to identify, of Mexico, for the subjection of murders of visualize and conceptualize the effects of gen- girls and women over time. In the country der violence, taking into account three types of there have been femicide