The Institution has been working in coordination with the Search Unit for Missing Persons (UBPD in Spanish), in order to find the 112 members of the Military Forces and civilians in the service of the National Army. The remains of five of these disappeared have already been handed over to their families.
The National Army, through the chief of staff of Planning and Policy, the Comprehensive Legal Department and the Family and Wellbeing directorate, makes a constant operation to remember military and civil personnel at the service of the institution who become victims of this crime of forced disappearance in the context of the armed conflict.
That is why, as part of the Week of the Disappeared, the institution will pay a heartfelt tribute to these heroes, through different activities that were carried out in the month of May. The foregoing is in the same way of the article 14 of Law 1408 of 2010, which established that “The historical memory of the victims of the Colombian conflict disappeared will be the object of commemoration the last week of May, within the framework of the Week of the Disappeared Detainees, and the thirtieth (30) of August, International Day of the Disappeared (...).”
Currently, the National Army, through the Directorate of Family and Wellbeing, has prioritized 112 cases of victims of forced disappearance. Within that universe of military reported as victims of this crime, which is a violation of the international humanitarian law, becomes a flagrant violation of human rights of 78 soldiers, 22 non-commissioned officers, 2 officers and 10 civilians in the service of the branch.
In accordance with the judgment C-317/02, of the Constitutional Court, this crime is recognized by the international community as a crime against humanity, because it is a multiple attacked against fundamental rights of the human being, such as the denial of countless legal-social acts of life of the person disappeared.
During this week, the institution has made activities that dignify the memory of the victims along with the families of the disappeared, by means of an experiential psychosocial workshop, Velatón in memory of our missing heroes and their families, an psychosocial activity: Bravery and courage gave me the victory in every battle,” and the touring gallery exhibition in the shopping mall Gran Estacion.
This week, the National Army has been carrying out activities that integrate families and make visible the victims of this heinous crime.
