In the conflict, LGBT people have been "whores, toadies, victims, victimisers, errand boys, bochincheros", a long list of nouns that illustrate the complexity of the relationships between war, gender and sexuality.

Armed actors have instrumentalised social prejudice against LGBT people to achieve multiple ends within the war, such as achieving greater legitimacy in the territories under their control, reinforcing sexuality and gender norms to ensure the disciplining and regulation of the daily lives of the civilian population, or simply to demonstrate the masculine power they are particularly invested with by having a gun, boots and a camouflage.

In the midst of this complex panorama, there is a legal regime that has not been designed to address the justice claims of victims of gender-based violence in the conflict. This is why the peace area of Colombia Diversa undertook the task of writing a book that responds to these gaps. The Orders of Prejudice' is a text that seeks to explain, from a legal perspective, the instrumental exercise that violence against LGBT people has had and how these have a symbolic purpose, the victims are chosen with the purpose of communicating a message of exclusion or subordination.

"If the purpose of transitional justice is to build a bridge between different people, heal wounds, rebuild relationships of trust between citizens and between citizens and the state, it is essential that the formal spaces for the administration of justice recognise the structural deficiencies of the law to address the justice claims of victims of gender-based violence in war, and, in line with the principle of the centrality of the victims in these mechanisms, act in favour of settling these historical debts", emphasises Daniela Díaz Villamil, coordinator of the peace area of Colombia Diversa and one of the people behind the book.

To access the book go to this link

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