Dignity and the right of internally displaced adolescents in Colombia to sexual and reproductive health

Abstract

In Colombia, national policies and laws on the protection of vulnerable populations pay specific attention to the sexual and reproductive health needs and rights of internally displaced adolescents. This paper describes how a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)-supported programme (September 2000-August 2004) on the sexual and reproductive health of internally displaced adolescents contributed to restoring their dignity as a precursor to promoting their sexual and reproductive health rights. Different forms of the arts were used as basic techniques to discover their body and to provide sexual and reproductive health information and education. The arts were found to play a key role in restoring their dignity. Although dignity appeared to be a determinant of greater awareness of rights, it did not lead to increased empowerment with regard to rights. The availability of and access to sexual and reproductive health services remains a problem and displaced populations continue to have little or no power to hold their authorities accountable.

A forgotten group during humanitarian crises: a systematic review of sexual and reproductive health interventions for young people including adolescents in humanitarian settings

“…Intervention restored dignity and increased awareness of rights. One participant noted that the use of theatre and dance “created trust and opened a space in which these matters could be discussed” [29].…”

“…The nine peer-reviewed articles included three randomised controlled trials (RCTs) [28, 32, 33], one cohort study [30], two case studies [34, 35], one before-and-after study [27], and two qualitative studies [29, 31] (Table 3). Of the grey literature articles ( n = 5), four were case studies [37–40] and one presented two RCTs and a before-and-after study [39].…”

“…Eight interventions described having adolescent- or youth-friendly services as part of their intervention [29, 36–38] (Table 3). However, adolescent-friendly services were not always defined and it is therefore difficult to determine if this was actually achieved.…”

Promoting Internationalism? A gendered examination of the United Nations reintegration processes for internally displaced persons (IDPS) in North-East Nigeria

“…They bore this brunt even in the camps that they assumed would be a place of refuge. These atrocities were often committed by other men in the camp, including local authorities (Bosmans, Gonzalez, Brems & Temmerman, 2012;Kadende-Kaiser, 2012). The living conditions in displaced persons' camps are often characterized by violence, domestic impoverishments, even sexual violations, as was recounted by Colombian adolescents after a number of violence-induced conflicts (Bosmans et al, 2012).…”

“…These atrocities were often committed by other men in the camp, including local authorities (Bosmans, Gonzalez, Brems & Temmerman, 2012;Kadende-Kaiser, 2012). The living conditions in displaced persons' camps are often characterized by violence, domestic impoverishments, even sexual violations, as was recounted by Colombian adolescents after a number of violence-induced conflicts (Bosmans et al, 2012). In Liberia, many women and girls, out of about one million returning IDPs, struggled with the physical and psychological effects of rape and unwanted pregnancies (UN, 2002).…”