Responsabilidad penal de las instituciones de educación superior por violencia institucional de género contra las mujeres en Colombia: una reflexión sobre tipicidad, omisión, autoría y debida diligencia universitaria

Abstract

This reflection article examines the possible criminal liability of higher education institutions for institutional gender-based violence against women in Colombia. The analysis begins from the observation that, in many cases, the university response to complaints of sexual harassment, sexual violence, and other forms of gender-based violence is not merely insufficient, but may take the form of omissions, unjustified delays, lack of protective measures, revictimization, and institutional peregrination. Through a legal, doctrinal, and case law approach, the paper explores whether such institutional failures may go beyond the administrative, disciplinary, or constitutional sphere and acquire criminal relevance. To this end, it studies the regulatory framework composed of Law 1257 of 2008, Law 2365 of 2024, Law 1740 of 2014, Resolution 014466 of 2022 issued by the Ministry of National Education, and international instruments for the protection of women’s rights. It also analyzes central categories of Colombian criminal law, such as typicity, unlawfulness, culpability, omission, duty to act as guarantor, authorship, and participation. Likewise, it incorporates the recent jurisprudential line of the Constitutional Court, especially rulings T-210 of 2023, T-235 of 2025, and T-010 of 2026, which have strengthened the standard of due diligence in university settings. The article concludes that, although Colombian law does not generally establish autonomous criminal liability of legal persons for all kinds of offenses, there are normative and doctrinal grounds to criminally examine certain serious institutional omissions and actions in contexts of gender-based violence.