Gender-based Violence Towards Colombian Uprooted Women in the Northern Borderland of Ecuador: A Case of Human Security and Securitization

Through a gender, conflict, borderland and security approach, this thesis aims at explaining the high levels of gender-based violence (GBV) towards Colombian forced migrant women in the northern borderland of Ecuador, specifically the province of Sucumbíos. It claims that the combination of historically low levels of human security in the province of Sucumbíos with a national policy of securitization of forced migration increases the possibility of Colombian women to experience GBV in this area. Furthermore, it points out that GBV experienced by this group is not an isolated case but it's part of a continuum of violence and of gender inequalities towards women, exacerbated during conflict and displacement. In consequence,this thesis aims at proving that the division between conflict zones and peace zones - away from the violence of the conflict zone - is blurred if one takes into consideration certain approaches such as gender and human security, which reveal different gendered insecurities and GBV in the so-called peace zone.