GENEVA/BOGOTA - Enforced disappearance remains a horrific reality across Colombia, with tens of thousands of victims unaccounted for and families left in despair despite decades of efforts to end this crime. The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) concluded its visit to the country today by highlighting systemic shortcomings, including fragmented legal frameworks, institutional inefficiencies, and a lack of clarity about the actual number of disappeared persons.
A delegation set up by the Committee visited Colombia from 21 November to 5 December. During its mission, the delegation met with 80 authorities, including the Minister of Justice, the Attorney General, the Ombudsman, victims, and civil society organizations in Bogotá, Cali, Cúcuta, Medellín, Santa Marta and Villavicencio. The delegation visited five detention centres and accompanied operations in cemeteries overflowed with unidentified bodies, and in a crematorium.
“Although enforced disappearances started in Colombia around the 1940s, they are not just a crime of the past. They continue to occur daily across the country in diverse circumstances,” said the delegation.
The delegation’s preliminary findings painted a grim picture. Enforced disappearance spans all age groups and demographics, affecting children and adolescents, social leaders, migrants, journalists, demobilised combatants, and teachers, among others. Cases of forced recruitment, human trafficking, forced displacement and migration, as well as disappearances linked to social protests, are particularly alarming.
Families of disappeared people often face insurmountable barriers when seeking help due to the complex legal and institutional framework. One victim shared the frustration with the delegation, “We don’t know where to turn. We lack the information and knowledge necessary to exercise our rights. The authorities frequently provide confused answers, and it appears that they do not want to discuss our situation. We’re tossed between institutions, with no end in sight.”
The institutional landscape is highly fragmented, with overlapping mandates and ineffective coordination. Entities like the National Search Commission, the National Search System, and the Unit for the Search for Disappeared Persons for example, share duplicated mandates. It is estimated that if one of these units initiates a search process with a plan to coordinate with all other agencies, it would have to coordinate with around 60 other national and territorial authorities.
To make the situation worse, these institutions often work in silos, leaving victims caught in bureaucratic dead ends. Officials admitted that coordination meetings, while numerous, rarely result in concrete action. “We meet, and we meet more,” one official told the delegation. “But there are so many roundtables that we’re left with two options: not to go, or not to do our basic work.”
The absence of a centralized and reliable registry of disappeared individuals compounds the problem. Figures reported to the Committee range from 98,000 to 200,000. The discrepancies between institutional records make it impossible to determine the true scope. Fear of reprisals and lack of confidence in the authorities further discourage reporting, particularly in areas controlled by armed groups and organized crime. Victims from marginalized communities, such as migrants, people with disabilities, Indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants, and LGBTQ+ individuals, face additional geographical language and other discriminatory obstacles.
Thousands of unidentified bodies lie in poorly managed cemeteries or storage facilities, such as a hangar at Bogotá airport where around 20,000 unidentified bodies are currently stored.
The Committee called for immediate and concrete actions, emphasising that strengthening coordination between existing institutions is a critical first step. “Rationalising mandates, reducing bureaucratic overlap, and fostering collaboration are essential to making the system work for victims rather than against them,” said the delegation, adding that, “It is not about creating more institutions or laws but about articulating and strengthening the ones that already exist.”
Sufficient funding and specialized staffing are urgently needed. The Committee also underscored the need to tackle impunity. “Accountability mechanisms must be strengthened to ensure that officials and institutions are held responsible for their actions—or inaction,” the delegation said. They highlighted the commitment and professionalism of some officials to address enforced disappearance. This level of dedication must become the standard.
“Families of the disappeared deserve clarity, justice, and accountability. Every disappeared person represents a family waiting for answers, a community torn apart, and a society grappling with unresolved pain,” the delegation said.
The Committee has shared its preliminary findings with Colombia and will publish a full public report in April 2025.
The CED delegation was composed of Carmen Rosa Villa Quintana, member and former chair of the Committee, Juan Pablo Albán Alencastro, Rapporteur of the Committee, Albane Prophette-Pallasco, Secretary of the Committee, and Carla Villarreal Lopez, Human Rights Officer.
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