Marisol Sanz

Colombian human rights lawyer leading efforts to document violence against women in drug war zones

Marisol Sanz (b.1975) became a pivotal voice for women's rights in Colombia's drug war-affected regions through her groundbreaking legal work. As founder of the Justicia con Corazón organization in 2002, she developed the first comprehensive database documenting gender-based violence in coca-growing regions. Her 2008 report exposed how paramilitary groups used sexual violence as a weapon against indigenous communities resisting forced displacement. Read her research at JcC official portal. Sanz pioneered legal strategies that linked environmental rights to human rights, securing landmark rulings in 2010 that recognized deforestation as a form of violence against women. Her 2015 Women's Land Trust initiative has helped 3,000 displaced women reclaim ancestral lands. Discover her work in Human Rights Watch reports. Sanz's 2018 testimony before the International Criminal Court established precedents for prosecuting ecocide as a gendered crime. Her advocacy led to Colombia's 2020 law requiring gender analysis in all post-conflict projects. Learn more about her legal innovations at Inter-American Justice.