Embajadora de buena voluntad de Oxfam-Intermón denuncia violencia contra las colombianas - América Latina - ElNuevoHerald.com
Embajadora de buena voluntad de Oxfam-Intermón denuncia violencia contra las colombianas - América Latina - ElNuevoHerald.com
Goodwill Ambassador Intermón Oxfam-violence complaint against Colombian
Bogota - The Spanish Sole Giménez, Presets unforgettable voice and goodwill ambassador of Oxfam-Intermón, reported Wednesday the violence they are subjected Colombian women, who, he said, are "a weapon of war" and the main victims of the internal armed conflict.
In an interview with Efe, the artist remarked in Bogotá, where he is attending a forum on women and peace organized by the UN, the urge to "make visible certain problems that occur every day and that become natural things."
"You have a shout or pound the table, or more delicately draw attention," he complained, referring to a drama in Colombia affects hundreds of thousands of women.
"It is very painful to see what they are abandoned after spending rape, abuse, displacement, loss of many people around," he said, demanding "a commitment on the part of everyone in society."
A study by Oxfam-Intermón, framed in the campaign "Take my body of war", between 2001 and 2009 a total of 489.689 women were direct victims of sexual violence, that is, crimes like rape, harassment, forced prostitution, also forced sterilization and abortion.
This means "an average of six women every hour" raped or battered in an atmosphere of impunity and fear of the complaint, in which these crimes are committed in a "routine, widespread, systematic and invisible", according to the non- governmental organization (NGO).
Sole Gimenez insisted that "the armed conflict the female victim used as a weapon of war (...), is a double pirouette to humiliate, violate, do away with those voices."
And that responds to "a conflict of many years, very entrenched, very naturalized in society and sometimes very visible," he said.
Colombian women living in conflict zones "are not free at all, are always fearful that something will happen to them or their children," he said.
The singer's flagship program "Avanzadoras"-Intermón Oxfam, an NGO which starred a few months ago a campaign against multinational chocolate to denounce labor exploitation to which they are subjected cocoa pickers in developing countries .
From Wednesday participates in the National Summit on Women and Peace to be held in Bogota, where 400 delegates discussed proposals sent to government negotiators and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) who seek peace in Cuba.
In this sense, Sole said that "the gentlemen who are there (in Havana) must realize that the woman not only has a voice, but it absolutely has to be represented at these meetings to find a balanced peace Colombia".
"The armed conflict has mainly women victim to both Afro-Colombian and indigenous, as whites. However, they seem to have too much say in Havana, "he lamented, in the same terms in which they did the peace forum attendees.
The artist confessed that after 23 years as lead singer of The Presets, abandon this successful group was "a difficult decision" but "personally was liberating."
These years have also allowed to edit four solo albums into the world of social commitment to initiatives such as the one carried out in Oxfam-Intermón as ambassador and "Avanzadora".
"I look for personal growth, inner growth. The music I've done in recent years has helped me, "he said, adding that he also has allowed" to review and account "of his life.
Following his participation in the UN forum, Soledad Giménez will meet with various women's associations and travel to Cartagena, where he will visit the NGO projects representing in their desire to "do justice to the extent possible," according Efe remarked.
