the Colombian Truth Commission’s work on reproductive violence: gendered victimhood and reproductive autonomy

While conflict-related sexual violence has gained attention on international transitional justice agendas, conflict-related reproductive violence continues to be overlooked. The Colombian Truth Commission was the first truth-seeking transitional justice body worldwide to directly investigate these f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Feminist review 2023-11, Vol.135 (1), p.28-44
Main Author: Sanchez Parra, Tatiana
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Autonomy
Colonialism
Conflict
Ethnography
Feminism
Gender identity
Investigations
Justice
Ownership
Politics
Public hearings
Reproductive health
Reproductive rights
Sex crimes
Sexual violence
Transitional justice
Tribunals & commissions
Truth
Truth and reconciliation commissions
Victimization
Violence
Womens health
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Summary:While conflict-related sexual violence has gained attention on international transitional justice agendas, conflict-related reproductive violence continues to be overlooked. The Colombian Truth Commission was the first truth-seeking transitional justice body worldwide to directly investigate these forms of conflict-related violence. Based on an ethnographic analysis of the Commission’s work on reproductive violence, in this article I engage with the reproductive justice framework to argue that the Commission’s work broadened understandings of both gendered victimhood and reproductive autonomy. Regarding gendered victimhood, I show that the Commission’s work focused on gaining recognition for conflict-related reproductive violence as distinct from conflict-related sexual violence, identifying conflict-related practices of reproductive violence and offering recommendations for addressing such practices. Secondly, I show that not only was the Commission the first truth-seeking body to directly investigate reproductive violence, but it did so through an understanding of reproductive violence that does not revolve around the notion of autonomy as individual choice. I argue that by doing this, the Commission compelled us to comprehensively consider war as part of the conditions under which reproductive autonomy may be exercised. Following this line, the latter part of the article focuses on the Colombian government’s use of glyphosate as a form of conflict-related reproductive violence that claimed ownership over the reproductive futures of entire communities by creating environmental devastation.
ISSN:0141-7789
1466-4380
DOI:10.1177/01417789231205318