Overcoming gender-based violence - promoting self-determination and justice in the Andes

Background information

In terms of political representation, women are present in both Bolivia and Peru and important legal progress has been made in recent years to achieve more equal opportunities. Nevertheless, femicide, rape and sexualized violence against women, non-binary people, children and young people are on the rise in both countries.

In Peru, the authorities registered a total of 146 femicides and more than 140,000 cases of violence against women in 2023. Around 29,000 of these, i.e. around one in five, involved sexual violence.

The situation was similar in Bolivia in 2023. 81 femicides, 25 child murders and 11,450 reports of sexual violence were registered.

The lack of motivation on the part of the authorities in both countries to combat sexualized violence more effectively can be seen in the high number of women and girls registered as disappeared, which is growing year after year. Between January 2018 and July 2021, 46,762 women and girls disappeared in Peru, more than 60 percent of whom were minors, and these cases are generally associated with human trafficking, forced prostitution, forced labor and organ and child trafficking.

Currently, 46 women's shelters and around 400 state emergency call centers in Peru offer advice and protection. However, according to our partner organization Flora Tristán, they are unable to meet the high demand from women seeking protection from domestic violence.

Due to their disabilities, women and children with disabilities are much more often the target of sexual and other violence than people without disabilities.

In Bolivia, people with disabilities face numerous obstacles, leading to poverty, violence, social exclusion and discrimination. A legal framework does exist to protect people with disabilities from violence. However, there are gaps in these standards and they are hardly known to those affected or to the relevant authorities, which means that they are often not applied.

The study by our partner organization Flora Tristán shows that assaults on vulnerable people take place in supposedly "safe" environments: within the family, at school or in a healthcare facility. Many cases are neither reported nor reported, which is why they are referred to as "invisible victims".

In Bolivia and Peru, complaints often fail due to the bureaucratic system or untrained staff who are unable and unwilling to offer help. As a result, victims question the usefulness of filing a complaint or refrain from doing so. However, if a complaint is made, the victims are often persuaded to seek out-of-court mediation. Victims are thus denied access to the legal system in practice.

Very few perpetrators therefore have to fear sanctions, with only 10 percent of reports leading to a conviction (Peru). The statistically recorded cases of sexualized violence are only partial - the number of unreported cases is likely to be high.

Target groups and goals per country

We support the project work of partner organizations that pursue the right to a life free from physical and psychological violence and work persistently on social and legal reforms to achieve a gender-equitable and peaceful society - in accordance with UN Sustainable Development Goals 5 and 16.

Bolivia

In Bolivia, we support our partner organization Machaqa Amawta in its work at nine schools in La Paz (Andes) and Riberalta (Amazonas). In regular workshops, children and young people with and without disabilities are made aware of sexualized violence in an age-appropriate manner and are encouraged to recognize dangers, set boundaries and seek help where necessary using playful methods.

Children learn what adults can and cannot do with them. They learn to find words for their private parts - this is also taboo in Bolivia - or to recognize the difference between a good and a bad touch or a good and a bad secret.

Our partner organization has developed its own educational material for this purpose, which focuses in particular on the needs of children and young people with disabilities. In addition, teachers, school management and interested parents are sensitized to the topic and informed about the legal duties to protect. The work also includes supporting schools in developing a roadmap with specific instructions for action. The main target groups of the project work together with Machaqa Amawta are

• Schoolchildren with and without disabilities from the cities of La Paz and Riberalta
• Parents, teachers and school management from public and private schools in La Paz and Riberalta
• Minors affected by violence and their family members receive psychosocial support
• Civil society is sensitized and informed about gender-specific and sexualized violence through regional and national publicity campaigns and called upon to take action

Peru

The Peruvian Women's Centre (PFZ) Flora Tristán is a feminist partner organization of Mission 21 that has been working for more than 45 years to defend the rights of women in all their diversity - in particular the right to a life free of violence and the promotion of gender equality. In their area of activity, they raise awareness among law enforcement agencies and carry out vociferous protests in public spaces to inform the population about abuses and persuade the authorities to take action.

This feminist-oriented public relations work supports victims and relatives of gender-based violence and serves as a strategy for raising public awareness.

Mission 21 supports the PFZ Flora Tristán with its work in two regions, the catchment area of the capital Lima and the rural area in Cusco.

Flora Tristán in Lima

• Victims of sexual violence and human trafficking from the greater Lima area receive legal and, if necessary, psychosocial advice and support from Flora Tristán.
• In the metropolitan district of San Juan de Lurigancho, a group of 18 young legal advisors is being supported to document cases of sexualized violence in their district. They provide legal advice to victims and interested parties and help to report cases. The women are also involved in the implementation of campaigns to prevent sexualized violence and raise public awareness in their district.
• Strategic litigation" as a legal strategy is implemented in order to achieve changes in legislation and enforcement. This benefits vulnerable and at-risk population groups.

PFZ Flora Tristan in Cusco

In the Andean communities, our partner organization combines the prevention of sexualized violence with strategies to promote women's income and political participation through agroecological farming.

Women become knowledge carriers for food security and generate income for their households and village communities. On the one hand, this allows them to expand their decision-making scope within the household. On the other hand, they are seen as key figures in adapting to climate change at community level, and the male population gives them a greater say.

The main target group for the project work is from 2025:

• 30 women smallholders from the Association of Organic Producers of Quispicanchi (APPEQ) from the communities of Huasao, Muñapata and Patabamba; they are being trained as multipliers
• The multipliers advise 300 smallholder farmers (70 percent women, 30 percent men) from the communities of Huasao and Muñapata on agroecology and train and sensitize them on the topics of human rights, gender equality and agroecology.
• Officials such as mayors, local councillors and those responsible for social and economic development. They are trained to use their institutional skills to break down the traditional understanding of women's roles and enable women to access resources and guarantee their right to a life without violence.

Casa DEI in Costa Rica The cooperation with "Casa Dei", the shelter for persecuted human rights activists from all over Latin America, in Costa Rica is being continued in a separate project, together with our partner organization, the Ecumenical Research and Training Center DEI. It bears the project number 400.1020.

Project progress 2022-2024

Peru, Cusco - PFZ Flora Tristán

Prevention work against sexualized violence is carried out in the Andean communities in combination with strategies to promote income through agroecology. The economic empowerment of women made it possible for committed women to inform and sensitize various social groups on the topic.

• 25 women smallholders from the community of Patabamba were trained as multipliers in the prevention of sexual violence.
• More than 1500 community members from rural village communities in the Cusco region were sensitized by the multipliers about sexualized violence and educated in methods of prevention; they know the state contact points for reporting sexualized violence.
• The local police station and the women's emergency center can deal sensitively and professionally with victims of violence; 60 officers received regular training.
• Audiovisual campaigns in Quechua were implemented annually to raise awareness in indigenous village communities. The content was also disseminated via local radio stations and printed media.
• 25 women were also trained as experts and multipliers in agroecological agriculture.

La Paz & Riberalta, Bolivia - Machaqa Amawta

• Over 1200 schoolchildren, 600 teachers and parents were trained and sensitized on the topic of gender-based and sexual violence.
• Over 200 state employees have been trained to deal professionally with victims of violence.
• 70 victims of violence were accompanied. For a good half of them, the spiral of violence was demonstrably interrupted. Other children and their parents continue to receive support and care.
• Machaqa Amawta has also carried out various national awareness-raising campaigns over the past three years, with a presence on radio and television as well as social platforms.
• And Machaqa Amawta, in collaboration with the UN Women office in Bolivia, has published the study "Violence and disability among girls and women: a hidden reality" (Dec. 2024).

In the following Film "Strategic litigation against violence against women" In the following film, our partner organization Flora Tristan gives an insight into the legal support work of a family whose daughter was the victim of a femicide and is looking for justice.

To the podcast "Voices of hope", Episode 6 "Struggling mothers and father of El Alto" on the work of our partner Machaqa Amawta