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Good practice Imported

Colombia's Ley Rosa Elvira Cely (Law 1761/2015) — Femicide as an Autonomous Criminal Offence

Colombia · Bogotá · See the Colombia profile · See the Bogotá profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 71% 48/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Colombia's Law 1761 (2015) codified femicide as a standalone crime with up to 50-year sentences. Within five years, 705 convictions were recorded. The law mandates gender training for justice officials and disaggregated data collection, influencing similar laws in Latin America.

705 convictions
Femicide convictions recorded (2015-2020)
75 sentences
Femicide sentences handed down (H1 2020)
461 cases
Additional cases under precautionary measures (as of 2020)
630 femicides
Femicides recorded (2022)

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Congreso de Colombia / Fiscalía General de la Nación
Period
2015–ongoing
Keywords
criminal justice, gender-based violence, femicide, law, violence against women

Context

Prior to 2015, gender-motivated killings of women in Colombia were prosecuted as ordinary homicide, making it structurally difficult to identify patterns, aggregate statistics or prosecute with gendered intent.

Objectives

Law 1761, enacted 6 July 2015 and named after Rosa Elvira Cely, created femicide as an autonomous criminal offence, defined as the killing of a woman by reason of her gender or identity, with sentences of 21-50 years.

Activities

The law mandates gender-sensitivity training for all justice-sector officials and requires the National Institute of Legal Medicine to collect and publish disaggregated data on gender-based killings.

Results

By the law's fifth anniversary in 2020, 705 femicide convictions had been recorded, including 75 sentences in the first semester of 2020 alone and 461 additional cases under precautionary measures. UNFPA reported 630 femicides in 2022.

Conclusions

The Fiscalía's 2021 six-year evaluation affirmed the law's role in making femicide visible as a distinct criminal category, while acknowledging that misclassification as ordinary homicide continues in some regions and femicide rates remain high, with experts noting under-reporting.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
Congreso de Colombia (legislature), Fiscalía General de la Nación (prosecution), National Institute of Legal Medicine (data collection), Justice-sector officials (mandatory gender-sensitivity training)

Conditions for success

  • Autonomous criminal-offence status distinct from ordinary homicide, enabling pattern identification
  • Mandatory disaggregated data collection and publication
  • Mandatory gender-sensitivity training across the justice sector

Common failure modes

  • Misclassification of femicides as ordinary homicide persists in some regions
  • Institutional biases slow recognition of gendered intent
  • Femicide rates remain high despite the law (630 in 2022, per UNFPA), with experts noting under-reporting

Commonly funded by

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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