(HRW) – “The worst thing is that you can’t have a baby,” Andrea told Human Rights Watch when we interviewed her in 2002. Andrea was describing her time as a 11-year-old girl in the ranks of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas. Two years before we interviewed her, aged just 12, FARC members had terminated Andrea’s pregnancy against her will, after telling her they merely wanted to check on her health. Before leaving office last week, Colombia’s acting Attorney General Jorge Fernando Perdomo announced the results of an investigation by his office into sexual violence in the FARC guerrilla movement. His office documented 232 cases in which boys and girls in FARC ranks suffered sexual crimes at the hands of guerrillas, including 214 girls who were subject to rape, forced sterilization, forced abortion, and other forms of sexual violence. His office also found alleged evidence that the acts of sexual violence were not isolated incidents, but rather guerilla policy handed down by top officials.
