Jurisprudential treatment of military criminal justice in cases of violence against women in the period between 2018 and 2022

Abstract

Violence against women is a social and legal phenomenon of great concern worldwide. Despite legislative advances and efforts to ensure the protection of women, significant challenges persist in the effective application of justice in cases of gender violence. In the specific context of Military Criminal Justice, there is a need to carefully examine the jurisprudence related to these cases, in order to understand the impact of judicial decisions on the protection and access to justice of women victims; in this sense, the period between 2018 and 2022; from there, it offers a relevant time frame to specify the way in which this area is developing. This academic study aims to address this problem through a detailed analysis of Colombian jurisprudence in Military Criminal Justice regarding cases of violence against women during this period. To this end, the general objective has been proposed to analyze the jurisprudential treatment of the Military Criminal Justice in relation to cases of violence against women during the period from 2018 to 2022, specifying the protection and access to justice for victims, through a route of specific objectives sequentially discriminated in: a) explain the theoretical and legal frameworks of the phenomenon of Military Criminal Justice in terms of the treatment of violence against women at the national and international level; b) quantify the cases of violence against women within the Military Criminal Justice in Colombia in the period from 2018 to 2022; c) evaluate in terms of protection and access the cases examined in the treatment of Military Criminal Justice in Colombia.
Taking into account the above, it is specified that the Military Criminal Justice system in Colombia is responsible for judging crimes involving members of the armed forces. Its main responsibility is to guarantee the application of the law and justice within the military sphere, ensuring that criminal acts committed by military personnel are adequately investigated and judged.
In cases of gender-based violence against women, it is the responsibility of the Military Criminal Justice system in Colombia to undertake the investigation, prosecution and punishment of military personnel involved in such crimes; however, multiple reports and cases have shown that this responsibility is not systematically fulfilled in an effective manner, thus exacerbating the high levels of impunity in cases of gender-based violence within the military sphere.
The gaps in the investigation and prosecution of these crimes by the Military Criminal Justice system have created a scenario where affected women face challenges in seeking justice and reparation for the acts of violence they have suffered, this underlines the importance of addressing the deficiencies of the Military Criminal Justice system to ensure effective protection for women victims of gender-based violence committed by military personnel.
Likewise, this research will focus on the study of the phenomenon of violence against women and the jurisprudential treatment that has been given to it in the Military Criminal Justice, where the treatment that has been given to guarantee the protection of victims in Colombia in the period between 2018 and 2022 is specified, a time in which the indices and data have proven to be relevant in this aspect and that has left gaps to be evidenced in this legal framework.
It is based on the need to understand and analyze the impact of the Military Criminal Justice policies on the incidence of gender violence against women in Colombia, given that this issue is of vital importance due to the social, legal and ethical relevance that implies comprehensively addressing the challenges faced by women who are victims of violence perpetrated by members of the military forces.
The study of Military Criminal Justice policies and their relationship with gender violence against women is justified first of all by the imperative to guarantee access to effective and equitable justice for all people, regardless of the context in which the acts of violence occur; in this sense, it is crucial to examine how these policies impact the protection and reparation of affected women. Likewise, it seeks to contribute to the strengthening of the judicial system and the promotion of measures that prevent and adequately sanction cases of gender violence within the military sphere. The findings derived from this study could provide information to guide legal and political reforms that improve the protection of the human rights of women in situations of conflict and vulnerability or who for some reason feel unprotected by the condition of the perpetrators.