Reported by Guest Blogger Alyea Sandovar:

Women in the Front Line documentaries, an initiative supported by Supported by the United Nations Population Fund  (UNFPA), show the plight of women and girls living in conflict filled regions of the world. Women in the Frontline: Colombia, documents the work of Esperanza Gonzalez a judge in Bolivar, a municipality of Colombia in the Mid Magdalena region. Judge Esperanza is an advocate for the civil rights of women and young girls in her region and works to dissolve what she calls “the conspiracy of silence”. That is, the cultural belief that one must ignore and not confront domestic violence, sexual assault and sexual abuse against women, girls and children. She works to provide health education to parents and adolescents, encourages adolescent young women to stay in school, assists in bringing to justice sexual offenders and provides resources and support to women who are victims of sexual assault or abuse.

Apart from Sudan, Colombia has more people displaced than any other country in the world. The country’s civil war between government and anti-government insurgent groups has lasted for four decades and brought disproportionate abuse against the rights of women and girls . Women in the Frontline reports some staggering statistics, including the fact that less than 50% of young women in Colombia have a secondary education, that young women in Colombia have a 1 in 5 chance of becoming pregnant during their adolescence and that 22% of young women between the ages of 12 and 17 do not attend school.

To watch the film, and other Women in The Frontline documentaries: http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/women_on_the_front_line_colombia/