Colombia - In the past seven years (2007-2014), 2,789 remains of victims of forced disappearance have been returned to Colombian families by the Office of the Attorney General (AGO).

“Our son was 17 years old when he disappeared and was murdered by a paramilitary group on 26 November 1989, in the village of Loma Verde (northern Colombia).  We had to wait 24 years to get his body back and mourn properly,” said Luz Marleny, mother of one of the 315 bodies delivered in the province of Córdoba in the last few years.

Of the remains returned so far, 83.5 per cent were delivered to families as part of a partnership between IOM, USAID, the European Union, and the Unit for Victims’ Assistance and Integral Reparation (UARIV).

Reparation for the victims of the armed conflict is one of the main goals of the Government of Colombia in implementing the Justice and Peace Law of 2005.  The AGO has exhumed 5,735 bodies of victims of forced disappearance, the majority found thanks to testimonies provided by demobilized former combatants from the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), who are being reintegrated under the Justice and Peace Law.

In addition to the remains already delivered, there are 144 bodies that have been identified by the AGO’s DNA team and are ready to be handed over to their families.  An additional 723 remains have been partially identified and another 2,079 have yet to be identified.

“The challenge is to make the identification, which takes place in the DNA laboratories of the police and legal technical investigation corps, a more efficient and streamlined process to identify exhumed bodies,” said Alvaro Polo, Coordinating Attorney General of the AGO Exhumations Group.

The USAID Country Director for Colombia, Peter Natiello, added: “We are really convinced that the identification and delivery of the remains of family members is a way of bringing peace and tranquility to families most affected by the conflict.  That’s why we are providing technical and financial support to the DNA laboratories, so they can progress more rapidly with these processes.”

Three regions of the country hold 41 per cent of the total of bodies delivered so far: Antioquia, where 521 remains have been delivered (18.7 per cent); Magdalena with 317 (11.3 per cent); and Córdoba with 315 (11.1 per cent).  This reflects the map of the paramilitary presence in Colombia and corresponds to the zones most affected by the violence. 

“The ceremony to deliver remains means the end of a long period of pain and uncertainty about the fate of a loved one.  It is the beginning of a more tranquil life, without anxiety or pain, and that is why international agencies have decided to support the government and the Attorney General’s Office in this important work,” said Ivo Hoefkens, First Secretary for Cooperation of the European Union in Colombia.

According to data from the National Commission for the Search for Disappeared People, between 1983 and 2014 there were around 70,000 thousand people whose location is still unknown.  Of these, some 32,000 are victims of forced disappearance perpetrated by paramilitary and guerrilla groups.

“For IOM it is a matter of dignity.  When someone loses a family member, the least you expect is to know where they are and to conduct the religious rites according to their beliefs, mourn and try to continue with their lives.  With this initiative, we can end the uncertainty that has afflicted these families for so long,” said Alejandro Guidi, IOM Chief of Mission in Colombia.

In 2003, the AUC, the main paramilitary group in Colombia, reached an agreement with the government that included exposing the truth about illegal acts committed; including the location of mass graves. It also agreed to contribute to justice, reparation, and guarantees of non-repetition, in exchange for maximum detention of eight years.  

The Colombian government and the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country’s main guerrilla group, are currently negotiating a peace deal in Havana, Cuba. Decades of armed conflict in Colombia have left more than 220,000 dead – some 180,000 of them civilians.

For more information please contact

Jadin Vergara

IOM Colombia

Tel: +571-6397777 Ext. 1715

Email: jvergara@iom.int