The women who have signed below unite our voices and actions against the war because…

The rupture of the peace process will make even more cruel and painful the situation of women whose human rights have been violated by the various armed actors before, during and after the breakdown of dialogues between the Government and the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). Retaliation is often based on the way in which one has expressed her love, and women are murdered because they are sweethearts, girlfriends, mothers, sisters, lovers of guerrillas, police and soldiers, members of the AUC (United Self-Defense Groups of Colombia). Hanging and public scorn because of one’s manner of dress, loss of the right to circulate freely in the streets, neighborhoods and sidewalks; selective assassinations of women purported to be collaborators with one actor or another; women of all ages raped by the various actors confronting one another; internal and external displacements of people; seizure of homes by armed actors to convert them into centers of operation; prohibition against picking up, conducting a wake and burying their dead; closing of schools adding even more burden to the domestic duties of women – all these are facts of daily life for millions of us in Colombia, A COUNTRY AT WAR.

The alternatives of political settlement to resolve the armed conflict are going through a grave crisis. The exclusionary model employed by the Government and the FARC, without participation of the people, negotiating in the midst of the armed confrontation and without an agreement regarding Human Rights and the DIH (International Humanitarian Law) to protect the people all contributed to an agonizing birth for this process. The process with the ELN (National Liberation Army) is not advancing. However, the Social Movement of Women, other social movements, and the Movement of Citizens for Peace persist in calling for a negotiated settlement. We view with terror the spectacle of war, which is nothing other than the continuation of a patriarchal conception that views war as the midwife of history and of humanity and which, unfortunately, today dictates the destinies of the world and of our country.

An even more brazen move has been the formation of a para-state, which is a de facto replacement for constitutional government and which imposes coercive measures on the civil population and totally destroys the model of democratic authority. The war economy results in more women living in poverty in Colombia, less possibility for participation, greater unemployment and cutting of all social programs that have been achievements of the women’s social movements that seek the rights we continue to demand.

We women do not give birth nor do we rear children for war. We urge the disarmament of both bodies and spirits. We want no more armed solutions. We demand answers to the social and armed conflict from the civil society. Militarization of life in the city and in the rural areas only leads to an expansion of the violence and attracts new actors to the war.

WE PROPOSE:

To build A NATIONAL MOVEMENT OF WOMEN AGAINST THE WAR, which will be a PERMANENT PROCESS that will include actions and events starting on 16 MAY with THE GREAT NATIONAL MOBILIZATION OF WOMEN AGAINST THE WAR and the arrival of thousands of women to the Plaza de Bolivar in the city of Bogota.

WE CALL ON:

Women who are in favor of a civil, autonomous and democratic approach to a life with dignity to participate in the organization of the movement by mobilizing from all corners of the country:

-Against the war

-For political negotiation

-For the demilitarization of civil life and the recovery of citizens’ rights for all the men and women of Colombia

-For the direct and autonomous participation of women in the negotiations and the peace process.

REPRESENTATIVES AT THE CONFERENCE:

· ORGANIZACION FEMENINA POPULAR

· RUTA PACIFICA DE LAS MUJERES POR LA RESOLUCION

· NEGOCIADA DE LOS CONFLICTOS

· MESA NACIONAL DE CONCERTACION DE MUJERES (ANMUCIC, ANUC-UR, FEDEMUC, MOVIMIENTO NACIONAL DE MUJERES AUTORAS ACTORAS DE PAZ, MOVIMIENTO POPULAR DE MUJERES, DIALOGO MUJER, CENTRAL UNITARIA DE TRABAJADORES-CUT,ASO DEMUC, PROYECTO PASOS, MUJERES DE INZA, CASA DE LA MUJER, ASAMBLEA DE LA SOCIEDAD CIVIL POR LA PAZ, RED DE MUJERES JOVENES FEMINISTAS POR LA PAZ, FUNDACION ABRIENDO CAMINOS A LA DIFERENCIA, RED DISTRITAL DE SALUD DE LA MUJER DEL SECTOR POPULAR)

· RED NACIONAL DE MUJERES

· INICIATIVA DE MUJERES COLOMBIANAS POR LA PAZ

ENDORSED BY:

· PAZ COLOMBIA.

· MUJERES UNIDAS POR UNA COLOMBIA MEJOR

· MUJERES ARTISTAS POR LA VIDA Y POR LA PAZ

· COLECTIVO DE JOVENES HUITACA

· FUNDACION PUERTAS DE ESPERANZA

· FUNDACION SEDES

· RED DE MUJERES COMUNITARIAS DE ALTOS DE CAZUCA

· ASOCIACION JUANA DE ARCO

· ASOCIACION DE MUJERES COMUNITARIAS DE PUENTEARANDA

Bogota, march 2002
Translate by Trisha J. Novak, USA.
Diffuse by "Network Women in Black against war"