The International Office for Human Rights Action on Colombia

Day: 30 August 2013

Enforced disappearance persists, fuelled by impunity – 25,007 victims of enforced disappearance in Colombia

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Today marks the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. And tragically, in Colombia this unfortunate practice that has characterized Latin America for decades before the eyes of the international community persists.NB: According to recent data published by the National Center for Historical Memory (Centro Nacional de Memoria Histórica), 25.007 people were victims of enforced disappearance between 1985 and 2012.

According to figures from the National Institute of Legal Medicine, on August 31, 2012, the cumulative figure for the total number of missing persons in Colombia was 74,361, of which 18,638 are victims of enforced disappearance. According to the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation, by May 2013, a total of 81,000 people had been reported missing, of which 20,000 are cases of enforced disappearance. Carlos Valdes, the director of the Institute of Legal Medicine, has stated that the most worrying aspect of this crime is that it is massively underreported (El Tiempo).

National and transnational corporations and Human Rights – Declaration

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Declaration signed up by more than 100 organizations on the occasion a Regional Forum on Business and Human Rights for Latin America and the Caribbean in Medellín.

On the occasion of the announcement made by the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights, the Regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNDP) and the Government of Colombia regarding a Regional Forum on Business and Human Rights for Latin America and the Caribbean to be held in the city of Medellín, Colombia, from 28 and August 30, 2013:

Our solidarity is universal.

We are deeply concerned about all victims of armed conflict, repression and violence around the world — from Sudan to Syria, including the persecution of the Rohingya and so many other crises that often receive less international attention than they deserve. Each of these situations calls for solidarity, remembrance, justice and action.

However, we have decided to specifically highlight the message ‘Stop Genocide in Palestine’ because what is happening in Palestine represents not only a human tragedy of enormous magnitude, but also a direct challenge to the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law and to the rules-based international system itself. The indifference and complicity of much of the international community in the face of the apartheid regime imposed by the Israeli government on the Palestinian people represent one of the greatest moral and political contradictions of our time.

The persistent violation of essential norms — such as the protection of the civilian population, the prohibition of collective punishment and respect for proportionality in the use of force — not only has devastating consequences for the Palestinian population, but also erodes the global mechanisms designed to limit the power of states and prevent abuses.

When these rules are repeatedly breached without any effective consequences, the framework that protects all populations in conflict situations, anywhere in the world, is weakened. Therefore, speaking out in this case does not mean ignoring other forms of suffering, but rather emphasising the urgency of defending an international order which, if it collapses, leaves everyone in a more vulnerable position.

Drawing attention to this situation is, therefore, an act consistent with the universal values we uphold: the protection of life, human dignity and respect for international law, without exception.

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