Colombia: Social Movements Inquire Into Forced Disappearances

Colombian social organizations Monday launched an investigation to search for 841 people missing during the armed conflict at the Buenaventura district in the Valle del Cauca department.

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The investigation will be conducted by the Unit for the Search for Persons Reported Missing (UBPD), the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), and the Truth Commission, three organizations that were created after the signing of the Peace Agreement in 2016.

Human rights defenders, victims' relatives, Indigenous leaders, and international representatives will take part in the two-day-long investigation.

"We are committed to the Buenaventura community. We will promote respect for human rights and territorial peacebuilding," the organizations stated.

"Instead of funding wars, President Ivan Duque should provide more economic resources to the UBPD and the JEP. Relatives of the 841 disappeared people demand government's response," Indigenous leader Feliciano Valencia tweeted.

Enforced disappearance in Buenaventura has become a recurrent practice among the armed groups controlling the territory.

In recent years, this area has registered 779 forcibly disappeared people, 40 recruited persons, 3 kidnappings, and 19 murdered citizens whose bodies were hidden.