45 conditions for their communities.”173 Not only are the members of these organizations subject to these impacts, but so are their children, spouses and partners, who have even been assassinated as a result of a woman’s social and political activities. The Special Rapporteur has observed in particular that: In their effort to gain social and political control of territories under dispute, armed groups target women’s organizations as a visible obstacle, deeply rooted within the communities, which they try to use for their benefit or alternatively destroy. Women’s organizations that do not bow before the interests of armed groups are forced to carry on their activities in permanently unsafe conditions and are increasingly forced to abandon or transform their organizational 174 procedures. 171. This situation of risk to women’s human rights defenders was also highlighted by other international organs and procedures, such as the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General on human rights defenders, after her visit to the country in 2001; the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women; and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia.175 The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has identified the paramilitary groups in particular as the principal perpetrators of threats and acts of harassment against human rights defenders in areas occupied by the actors in the armed conflict, including women’s organizations and social leaders.176 172. At the national level, in its reports the Mesa de Trabajo Mujer y Conflicto Armado (“Women and Armed Conflict Working Group”)177 has identified the situation of national and regional organizations, especially those that operate in war zones, that are subject to harassment and threats, negatively impacting their members and their community work, as a form of violence that affects women in the context of the armed conflict.178 In its third report (of 2002) it highlighted how the 173 United Nations, Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Ms. Rhadika Coomaraswamy, Mission to Colombia, March 11, 2002, para. 90. 174 United Nations, Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Ms. Rhadika Coomaraswamy, Mission to Colombia, March 11, 2002, para. 91. 175 United Nations, Report by the Representative of the United Nations Secretary General on Human Rights Defenders, Hina Jilani, Visit to Colombia, April 24, 2002,paras. 138-147; Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Observations on the Report of the State of Colombia, February 3, 1999, para. 271; United Nations, Reports of the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Colombia, Annual Report 2002, February 24, 2003, paras. 102-108; Annual Report 2003, February 17, 2004, paras. 85-89; and Annual Report 2004, February 28, 2005, pp. 4 and 120. 176 United Nations, Reports of the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Colombia, Annual Report 2004, February 28, 2005, p. 4. 177 The Mesa de Trabajo Mujer y Conflicto Armado (Women and Armed Conflict Working Group) is made up of the following organizations of Colombian civil society: Asociación Nacional de Mujeres Campesinas, Negras e Indígenas de Colombia (ANMUIC); Programa Mujer Campesina de la Asociación Nacional de Usuarios Campesinos-Unidad y Reconstrucción (ANUC-UR), Colectivo de Mujeres Excombatientes, Colectivo Mujeres al Derecho; Comisión Colombiana de Juristas (CCJ), Corporación Casa de la Mujer; Corporación Casa Amazonía; Corporación de Apoyo a Comunidades Populares (CODACOP); Corporación Humanas Centro Regional de Derechos Humanos y Justicia de Género; Corporación Opción Legal; Corporación para la Vida “Mujeres que Crean”; Fundación Educación y Desarrollo; Corporación Sisma Mujer; Fundación Mujer y Futuro; Instituto Latinoamericano de Servicios Legales Alternativos (ILSA); Liga Internacional de Mujeres por la Paz y la Libertad (LIMPAL); Liga de Mujeres Desplazadas; Organización Femenina Popular (OFP); Programa Mujer y Cultura de la Organización Nacional Indígena Colombiana (ONIC); Grupo de Mujeres AFRODES; and Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres. 178 Mesa de Trabajo Mujer y Conflicto Armado, Informe sobre Violencia Socio-Política contra las Mujeres, Jóvenes y Niñas en Colombia, Mujer y Conflicto Armado, October 2004, pp. 91-102.