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F.5.b.iii.3.n Venezuela

Boothroyd, Rachel, Venezuelan women’s movement demand justice for feminicide of activist, Venezuelananalysis, 02/11/2017,

Following the alleged murder of Caracas activist Sheila Silva,  feminists and women’s movements in Venezuela launched a campaign demanding authorities take decisive action against gender-based violence and femicide. The activists’ initiative was supported by the Venezuelan government campaign ‘Peace Begins at Home: No More Violence Against Women’. The campaign saw various public landmarks lit up in violet light by night, aimed at promoting debate about the decriminalization of abortion and family planning, and also the need to criminalise domestic violence. These are all long-term demands of Venezuela’s feminist movements.

See also https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Venezuela-Launches-Campaign-to-Counter-Violence-Against-Women-20171101-0030.html

Mesones, Rojo, It’s So Hard to Be a Feminist in Venezuela, Caracas Chronicles, 09/12/2019,

Describes the feminist revolt in Caracas, Venezuela, seeking to bring attention to gender-based violence, and highlight the lack of statistics on femicides (which have not been updated since 2013) and the current obstacles to Venezuelan feminism.

Pérez, Noemi, The ‘fallen’ Miss Venezuela: a tragedy of sexual slavery and trafficking, OpenDemocracy, 14/08/2019,

Due to a political, economic and humanitarian crisis, Venezuelans are fleeing and leaving everything behind to reach safety. According to the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, as the number of refugees and migrants from Venezuela tops 4 million, this has become the largest migratory flow in the history of the American region. This long report highlights the conditions of Venezuelan women and girls who face sexual slavery and child exploitation, amongst many other threats.

Rojas, Rachel, Venezuelan women’s movement demand justice for feminicide of activist, Venezuelananalysis, 02/11/2017,

Following the alleged murder of Caracas activist Sheila Silva, feminists and women’s movements in Venezuela launched a campaign demanding authorities take decisive action against gender-based violence and femicide. The activists’ initiative was supported by the Venezuelan government campaign ‘Peace Begins at Home: No More Violence Against Women’. The campaign saw various public landmarks lit up in violet light by night, aimed at promoting debate about the decriminalization of abortion and family planning, and also the need to criminalise domestic violence. These are all long-term demands of Venezuela’s feminist movements.

See also https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Venezuela-Launches-Campaign-to-Counter-Violence-Against-Women-20171101-0030.html.

Zuñiga, Mariana, American court opens historic hearing into Venezuela rape and torture case, The Guardian, 06/02/2018,

This article describes the case of Linda Loaiza López Soto, who was kindapped and repeatedly raped and tortured by her abductor for months in 2001, when she was 18 years old, after over 16 years of struggling for justice and exhausting all avenues in Venezuela. Her case was heard by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. It was the first case related to gender-based violence in Venezuela to be judged by the court. On November 16, 2018, in a decision with potential implications for survivors around the world, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that the State of Venezuela is responsible for the torture and sexual slavery of a young woman, who had spent half her life fighting for justice.

See also https://womensenews.org/2018/11/after-17-years-venezuelan-survivor-finally-wins-justice/

For more legal details on the case see https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/wps/2019/12/05/gender-based-violence-as-torture-the-case-of-linda-loaiza-lopez-soto/