MOVEMENT OF WOMEN AGAINST WAR: “CAMPAIGN FOR DEMILITARIZATION AND THE RECOVERY OF CIVIL LIFE”

“Because a home and a country without war and without violence is possible”

November 24, 2003 – (Press Release No. 12) Hundreds of women in Putumayo are living through the solitude and misery that has been imposed on their region, their communities and their bodies by a long process of social and economic deterioration. On 25 November, along with hundreds of other women from all over the country, they will say to Colombia and to the world no to the aerial spraying of herbicides, no to an anti-narcotic policy that discounts social reality and which, therefore, excludes policies that would lead to real development for the communities.

Close to 47% of the citizens of Putumayo are women, a little over 350,000 women. Of those, more than 67% live in the countryside and 32.5% in the urban areas. A large number of women are head of household and they have low paid jobs with few guarantees for social security.
According to estimate of the health authorities of the department, some 22.7% of the women are of child-bearing age and of these, about 3.3% are pregnant, which increases their health risks because there is little likelihood of integrated care during the pre-natal and post-natal periods and during pregnancy and birth.

To this situation of having been abandoned by the State, one must add the activities of the armed actors. Many mothers have felt impotent in the face of recruitment of their sons and daughters for the war; in the face of how they impose, through force of arms, the regulations that govern daily life among neighbors and within their very homes; the manner in which their daughters should dress and with whom they can fall in love. Bodies of women have been violated [by the armed actors] as a way of demonstrating their power, thus bodies of women become booty of war.

In 2002 the Solidarity Network reported 21,366 persons displaced from the department of Putumayo, of whom more than 50% are women. Because their husbands have been killed by the armed actors, the women flee from their lands to protect their children from being recruited or because their plots of lands have been destroyed by glyphosate.

The Movement of Women against war demands an anti-narcotics policy that will give consideration to the participation of women; that will install a commission for scientific investigation of the effects of glyphosate; and that will implement not military but social policies. Finally, we propose a national and international oversight commission to gauge the effectiveness of the current anti-narcotics policy.

We invite you to join us in this act of solidarity with the women of Putumayo, their families and their communities.

Reports:
Iniciativa de Mujeres por la paz – 310.268.27.92
Mesa Nacional de Mujeres –310-262-08-17
Ruta Pacífica de Mujeres – 310.503.83.44

Irma Ortiz A. Comunicadora 310.803.83.14 comunicaciones@rutapacifica.org.co

PUTUMAYO ABANDONED (STATISTICS)

Putumayo, borders the departments of Cauca and Caqueta on the north; on the south, Peru and Ecuador; on the west, Narino; and, on the east, the Amazon region. Putumayo measures 24,885 square kilometers and is part of the Colombian Amazon region, along with Caqueta, Vaupes, Guaviare, Amazonas and Guainia.

Statistics regarding lack of basic necessities and poverty levels in Putumayo are among the highest in the country. While the national average poverty level is 37.6%, in Putumayo, it is more than 79%. Among basic services, [only] a 49% [of the population] has aqueducts for water, 45% sewer facilities and 58% electric power.

Only a little over 50% of the children of school age, 3-16 years, attend school. The lowest percentage is among pre-school age children at 14%, basic secondary and middle school with 33%, and the highest percentage in basic primary. In this case, however, it has been shown that of 100 children who enroll in first grade, only 25 finish the fifth grade. The rate for higher education is only 3%, with illiteracy at 11% and 10% quitting school.

Statistics with regard to subsidized health services in Putumayo are several points below the national average. While throughout the entire country, this level reaches 68%, in Putumayo, it is only slightly over 52%. Lack of health services takes on even greater proportions in the rural areas where medical missions have been harassed by the armed groups.

Translated from Spanish by
Trisha Novak, USA