Our figures, which are only part of the problem, show that this practice continues to exist in the country. We documented 209 cases of disappearance related to armed conflicts and violence in 15 departments, which occurred during 2022, with Arauca, Chocó, Cauca, Nariño and Norte de Santander being the most affected areas. In these places, 79% of the cases of which we are aware were concentrated. Since the signing of the Peace Agreement in 2016, we have documented the occurrence of 1,122 new disappearances.
Social control and pressure from the bearers of weapons not only condition the daily activities of the communities, but also their access to the institutions in charge of searching for and attending to their needs. In some cases, for fear of reprisals, families prefer to wait months or years before reporting that their family member has disappeared.
The decisions of the armed actors regarding the management of deceased persons, as well as the maintenance of contact between family members, can prevent disappearances in Colombia. In some areas of the country, one of the ways of exercising social control over communities is not allowing them to collect the bodies of deceased people or notify them of their existence. In other cases, the armed groups have notified different humanitarian organizations to recover the human bodies.
*These figures correspond to the cases that the ICRC documented in the development of its work in the areas where we have a presence, therefore, they do not reflect the exact dimension of the phenomenon.
** These figures may vary in each publication since some disappearances are not reported during the same year that they occurred. For example, in 2022 we documented 348 cases of disappearance, of which 209 occurred that same year, and the remaining cases occurred between December 2016 and December 2021.
Given the drama that being able to recover the bodies of their deceased loved ones represents for thousands of families in the context of armed conflicts, we insist on the need to strengthen the state response to promote the dignified recovery of bodies, even in the most remote places. To achieve this, the unconditional will and the availability of the resources that are required are essential, especially in the proper functioning of the Unit for the Search for Persons Deemed Disappeared (UBPD). Similarly, bearers of weapons must prevent the disappearance of persons, an obligation for all parties derived from the laws of war.
All of the above is part of the panorama of the disappearances that have occurred since 2016 and also of the cases that occurred previously. In this sense, the State must take the necessary measures to stop the disappearances, and to find out the whereabouts of the disappeared persons. The operation of the Urgent Search Mechanism should be promoted, which could help prevent new disappearances from occurring. This implies that this mechanism is known among the officials involved, as well as the creation of a monitoring system of the actions that the institutions carry out when the mechanism is activated.
Additionally, it is essential that the relatives of disappeared persons have access to adequate mental health care within the public health system. These people are not just figures: they are broken dreams, destroyed families, hours of searching and waiting, an answer that sometimes does not come and, above all, the uncertainty and pain of not knowing what happened and where they are.