Friday, January 29, 2021

Women Fleeing Venezuela Are Targeted With Sexual Assault As They Cross Into Colombia

Ana Teresa Castillo, who runs a shelter for Venezuelan migrants in the Colombian border town of Villa del Rosario, says she is tending to many more rape victims now than before the pandemic began. She blames the closing of official border posts and gangs blocking their smuggling trails during daylight hours, forcing migrants to cross at night, when they are far more vulnerable.

Human rights activists have reported a sharp increase in sexual assaults and human trafficking involving Venezuelan women and girls trying to reach Colombia since the border closed amid the pandemic.

(Image credit: John Otis for NPR)

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