Child Survivors of Femicides Are No Longer “Invisible Victims”

Colombia passed a new law for the state to offer support to the child survivors of femicide, which includes compensation and funds for mental health services to children struggling with the aftermath of gender-based violence.

“It recognizes that, in the process of femicide, the mother isn’t the only victim. There are indirect victims as well,” explains Representative Carolina Giraldo, who helped draft the bill. “The bill was drafted with the families of femicide victims. They were the ones who told us why this law was necessary and what their needs were, starting at the moment that a femicide occurs.”

To draft the bill, Representative Giraldo reached out to relatives of femicide victims through Orphans of Femicide Colombia. This non-profit represents eight families who have experienced gender-based violence. Support will be offered to minors who lost their mother to femicide until the age of 18. Should the children pursue higher education or are disabled, they will remain eligible until the age of 25. According to the Colombian Observatory of Femicide, at least 1,746 children were left parentless between 2019 and 2024. Eight Latin American countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Ecuador, passed similar laws to support the dependents of femicide victims.