[Durgical](https://durgical.com/en/) › [DurgiPedia](https://durgical.com/en/durgipedia/) › [Forensic medicine](https://durgical.com/en/forensic-medicine/) › [Clinical forensic medicine](https://durgical.com/en/forensic-medicine/areas/clinical/) › Intimate-partner and gender-based violence # Intimate-partner and gender-based violence - Topic How to detect, care for, document and protect a person who suffers violence from a partner or ex-partner, and what Colombian law says. Updated Nov 5, 2026 ## Key points - Ask alone and with direct questions; LIVES first-line support: listen, inquire, validate, enhance safety and support. - A history of non-fatal strangulation marks a high risk of severe or lethal violence. - Law 1257 of 2008: physical, sexual, psychological, economic and property-related violence against women. - Protection orders: before the family commissioner (Law 294 of 1996, art. 4). - Offences of violence against women do not need a victim's complaint (Law 906, art. 74). ## What it is Intimate-partner violence is violence by a partner or ex-partner: physical, sexual, psychological, economic or property-related, often with control and isolation. Law 1257 of 2008 defines violence against women as any act or omission that causes a woman death, harm or physical, sexual, psychological, economic or property-related suffering because she is a woman. In health services the doctor may be the first to learn of it: ask in private, believe and support, assess risk, document in detail and activate protection. The medico-legal report serves both the criminal case (domestic violence, injuries, femicide) and protection orders. ## Key facts - Signs: repeated injuries or injuries at different stages, an account that does not explain them, delay in seeking care, a partner who will not leave, physical or depressive symptoms without clear cause. - Common injuries: head, face and neck, and defence injuries on the forearms; in pregnancy, also the abdomen. - Non-fatal strangulation can leave few marks: examine and document the neck, voice, swallowing and petechiae. - WHO first-line support (LIVES): listen, inquire about needs, validate, enhance safety and support. - Penal Code, art. 229: domestic violence, with a higher penalty if the victim is a woman, a child or an older person; it also covers separated spouses or partners. - Law 1257, art. 8: the victim may consent or not to the medico-legal exam in sexual violence, choose the examiner's sex and decide whether to face the aggressor. ## Step by step - Ask in private, without the partner or relatives present, with direct, non-judgemental questions. - Listen, believe and validate: the violence is not the fault of the person who suffers it. - Assess risk: escalation, death threats, weapons, strangulation, pregnancy, intense jealousy, recent separation. - Examine and document each injury with measurements, diagrams and, with consent, photographs. - Make a safety plan with the person and explain the pathway: family commissioner, Fiscalía, helplines. - Refer to mental health and social work, and schedule follow-up. ## Next step: what to do and document - Record in the clinical notes the verbatim account, who the person says was the aggressor, the injuries and the risk assessment. - If there is sexual violence, apply the protocol of Resolution 459 of 2012. - Tell the victim of the right to request a protection order from the family commissioner (Law 294 of 1996, art. 4). - Notify the public health surveillance system and inform the authorities when the law requires it (see mandatory reporting). - If the risk is high, do not discharge without a safe place: activate protection at once. - Official text checked on 2026-11-05 at funcionpublica.gov.co. ## Legal framework in Colombia - Law 1257 of 2008: defines violence against women (art. 2) and the types of harm (art. 3), victims' rights (art. 8) and health measures (arts. 13 and 19). - Law 294 of 1996, art. 4 (as worded by art. 16 of Law 1257 of 2008): protection order from the family commissioner or, failing that, the municipal civil or general court. - Penal Code, art. 229 (amended by Law 1959 of 2019): domestic violence; art. 104A (added by Law 1761 of 2015): femicide. - Law 906 of 2004, art. 74, paragraph: no victim's complaint is needed in violence against women. ## Test yourself Think of the answer, then tap the question to see it. ## What does LIVES stand for in WHO first-line support for victims of violence? Listen, Inquire about needs, Validate, Enhance safety and Support. ## Which types of harm against women does Law 1257 of 2008 recognise? Psychological, physical, sexual and property-related harm; it also defines economic violence. ## Before whom does a victim of domestic violence request a protection order? Before the family commissioner of the place where it happened or, failing that, the municipal civil or general court (Law 294 of 1996, art. 4). ## Why ask about strangulation attempts in intimate-partner violence? Because previous non-fatal strangulation marks a high risk of severe or lethal violence and may leave few external marks. [Add to my cards (4)](https://durgical.app/estudiar/?add=/en/forensic-medicine/intimate-partner-and-gender-based-violence/) ## Elsewhere in DurgiPedia - [Mandatory reporting: public health, violence and abuse](https://durgical.com/en/medical-ethics/mandatory-reporting-public-health-violence-and-abuse/) - [The limits of confidentiality: duty to warn and legal disclosure](https://durgical.com/en/medical-ethics/the-limits-of-confidentiality-duty-to-warn-and-legal-disclosure/) ## Connections ## Related 4 - [Manual strangulation (throttling)](https://durgical.com/en/forensic-medicine/manual-strangulation/) - [Examining a living victim of injury (lesiones personales)](https://durgical.com/en/forensic-medicine/examining-a-living-victim-of-injury/) - [The forensic exam after sexual violence](https://durgical.com/en/forensic-medicine/the-forensic-exam-after-sexual-violence/) - [Resolution 459 of 2012: the health-care protocol for sexual violence](https://durgical.com/en/forensic-medicine/resolution-459-of-2012-the-health-care-protocol-for-sexual-violence/) ## Related conditions 1 - [Intimate partner and sexual violence (mental-health care)](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/intimate-partner-and-sexual-violence/) [← All of forensic medicine](https://durgical.com/en/forensic-medicine/) Educational content on forensic and legal medicine; not legal advice and no substitute for the technical guides of Colombia's National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences. Laws change: each page links the official text and says when it was last checked. For a real case, follow the guide in force and ask the competent authority. Sources: [Ley 1257 de 2008, violencia y discriminación contra las mujeres](https://www.funcionpublica.gov.co/eva/gestornormativo/norma.php?i=34054) (Función Pública, Gestor Normativo, 2008); [Ley 599 de 2000, Código Penal (arts. 104A y 229)](https://www.funcionpublica.gov.co/eva/gestornormativo/norma.php?i=6388) (Función Pública, Gestor Normativo, 2000); [Ley 906 de 2004, Código de Procedimiento Penal (art. 74)](https://www.funcionpublica.gov.co/eva/gestornormativo/norma.php?i=14787) (Función Pública, Gestor Normativo, 2004); [Violence against women (fact sheet)](https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-women) (World Health Organization, 2026); [Caring for women subjected to violence: a WHO curriculum for training health-care providers](https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241517102) (World Health Organization, 2019). ## **Spotted a mistake?** We are always improving for the community. Tell us what is wrong and our team will review it. Report a mistake Representative model, for educational purposes only. --- Source: https://durgical.com/en/forensic-medicine/intimate-partner-and-gender-based-violence/ License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Cite as: DurgiPedia (durgical.com), https://durgical.com/en/forensic-medicine/intimate-partner-and-gender-based-violence/