Hidden benefits of peace: The case of sexual violence

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Autor o Editor
Ana Maria Diaz
Luz Magdalena Salas
Ana María Tribín-Uribe

The series Borradores de Economía (Working Papers on Economics) contributes to the dissemination and promotion of the work by researchers from the institution. On multiple occasions, these works have been the result of collaborative work with individuals from other national or international institutions. This series is indexed at Research Papers in Economics (RePEc)

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Abstract

This paper studies the effect on sexual violence of Colombia’s recent peace negotiation between the government and the FARC insurgency. Using a matcheddifference-in-differences identification strategy, we find a significant reduction in sexual violence, measured as the count of sexual assaults per 100 thousand inhabitants, two years after the peace process was signed. During conflict, the rate of sexual violence was higher in municipalities with former FARC activity in contrast with municipalities in peace and remained higher immediately after the peace process was signed. However, two years after the signing of the agreement, the incidence of sexual assaults reduced significantly in the former FARC municipalities.