Commitment title:

Promote concrete actions in favour of girls and women so that they can freely choose what they want to be or do in their lives.

Commitment description:

In the framework of the Development Plan 2018–2022, one main axis is the pact for equality for women and girls. The country's commitment is aimed at eliminating harmful practices including child marriage and early unions as well as all forms of violence against girls and women through territorial, institutional and community strategies. Girls and women from indigenous communities and rural and scattered areas are a priority in the improvement of timely access to physical and mental health, protection services and psychosocial support in agreement with communities in order to transform stereotypes and harmful practices such as female genital mutilation. Through the Comprehensive Territorial Care Model (MAITE), Colombia has a policy for a comprehensive response to gender-based violence. This policy promotes community agreements and the strengthening of capacities for the intersectoral and territorial response, as well as a comprehensive route to health care for interpersonal and gender-based violence and armed conflict. Finally, Colombia has two knowledge management tools: the Sistema Integrado de Información and the Observatorio Nacional de Violencias de Género, which contribute to the formulation, monitoring and evaluation of public policy. Our goals: 1) 70 per cent of municipalities to have an intersectoral mechanism for addressing gender-based violence, by 2022. 2) 90 per cent of female victims of gender-based violence reported to SIVIGILA to have received health care for suspected physical, psychological and sexual violence, by 2022.

Mode of engagement:
  • Programmatic action
    Acuerdos comunitarios, programaticos y el fortalecimiento de la capacidad para la respuesta intersectorial territorial.
Commitment to be actioned in: Colombia
Submitted from: Colombia
Submitted by
Ministerio de Salud y Protección Social
Thematic area
Address gender-based violence and the harmful practices of child, early and forced marriages and female genital mutilation
Commitment category

(5) (a) Zero sexual and gender-based violence and harmful practices, including zero child, early and forced marriage, as well as zero female genital mutilation; and (b) Elimination of all forms of discrimination against all women and girls, in order to realize all individuals’ full socio-economic potential.