Action against forced disappearance commemorating the International Week of the Disappeared, organised by ASFADDES in Bogotá in May 2009.

Gloria Gómez is the coordinator of the Association of Family Members of the Detained and Disappeared (ASFADDES), an organisation that has dedicated itself to the struggle against forced disappearance since 1983. Agents of the State disappeared, tortured and murdered her brother Leonardo Gómez Cortés.[1]

ASFADDES began in 1982 as a result of the forced disappearance of thirteen people, the majority of whom were students of the National University in Bogota committed to leftist activism. The coordinator of ASFADDES explains that the families began to realise the similarities between the thirteen disappearances: the thirteen were students and involved in social justice organisations, and all evidence points to the participation of men who identified themselves as part of the F2.[2] After not receiving a response from the State – which denied the facts – they understood that the only thing to do was to unite to look for them. And thus ASFADDES was born, with the understanding that only united could they advance in their desperate search.

The struggle of ASFADDES and Gloria Gómez is a struggle against impunity, an interminable struggle to pursue justice in Colombia and, in name of all the family members of the disappeared, a struggle in search of the truth, the only thing that can alleviate the torment of those who have never given up searching for their loved ones and in response to the questions that torture them each day: “Where are they? Who kidnapped them? Are they still alive?”

Forced disappearance is a legal term[3] that refers to a type of crime characterised by the act of depriving a person or persons of his or their freedom, perpetrated by agents of the state or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorisation, support, or acquiescence of the state, followed by an absence of information or a refusal to acknowledge that deprivation of freedom or to give information on the whereabouts of that person, thereby impeding his or her recourse to the applicable legal remedies and procedural guarantees.[4] In this way the disappeared person is denied any possibility of the protection of their rights. The family members are left in limbo, not knowing where they are or if they are alive or dead. This complete denial of having possession of the person and the lack of legal protection implies a total violation of the person’s rights.

In Colombia, forced disappearance began to be employed in the 1970s as a repressive measure to eliminate the political opponents of the regime, particularly leftist activists.[5] According to Gloria Gómez, it is a practiced used by the State itself to generate fear, quiet and eliminate all those who reject the established regime. Since then, forced disappearance has evolved. If in the 1970s the phenomenon was used to eliminate leftist activists like Omaira Montoya,[6] by the 1980s the phenomenon expanded to also be applied to members of social justice organisations, students, peasants and union members. At the same time, while in the 1970s the disappearance was absolute – that is to say the individuals were taken and nothing was ever heard from them again – in the 1980s the individuals disappeared and their bodies reappeared days, months or even years later. When the goal was to teach a lesson, the tortured, disfigured and burned body was left where it was found. For Gloria Gómez, this was a clear strategy to create terror, and people began to not want to organise themselves, which affected the entire process of social organisation and the already weak fabric of society.

By the end of the 1908s this practice, in addition to being selective, became collective and indiscriminate: in addition to activists, members of social justice organisations and unions, individuals and entire groups began to be disappeared for the simple fact of living in a region of high social, political and armed conflict, or for travelling through such a region. A concrete case is that of the 19 businessmen that were disappeared in 1987 for the simple fact of travelling through the region of the Magdalena Medio.[7] Another is the case of the Pueblo Bello massacre in 1990, in which a paramilitary group took 48 men in two trucks with the acquiescence of State agents.[8] Much fear and panic was undoubtedly generated as a result of these two cases, given that none of those disappeared belonged to any activist group or social organisation: anybody could be a potential victim of forced disappearance.

From the end of the 1990s until today, forced disappearance has not only been used to eliminate opposition, target organised sectors and generate terror, but also to exercise control and dominance over communities, populations and entire regions.[9]

How many victims are there as of today?

This is a question without an answer. According to government statistics, approximately 42,000 people have been disappeared--1,130 in the last three years.[10] Nonetheless, the Prosecutor General considers the number to be just 32,000 forced disappearances.[11] It is very difficult to have an exact number as forced disappearance has occurred for more than three decades, and because many families reported the disappearances before the application of Law 589 in 2000[12] which means that many cases were reported as simple kidnapping while others were lost due to the passage of time. In addition, many families have not reported disappearances due to fear, because, sadly, in Colombia silence continues to be the only guarantee of staying alive.

It is in this dramatic context that ASFADDES – as part of the Latin American Federation of Families of the Disappeared (FEDEFAM)[13] – has been supporting the development of the “International Convention for the Protection of All People against Forced Disappearance” and demanding that States approve this tool to eradicate forced disappearance in the world. In 1988 and in 2005, the United Nations Working Group on Forced Disappearance came to Colombia, thanks to the work of ASFADDES in demonstrating the gravity of the situation. The Convention is an achievement of ASFADDES, which has supported and contributed to the worldwide struggle of family members of the disappeared in their exasperating search for truth and justice. The Convention was ratified by Colombia in October 2010, which opens a sliver of hope for a country that has suffered the disappearance of thousands of people in more than three decades, during which time family members have had to endure harrowing silence. The application of the Convention would constitute an advance in overcoming impunity in Colombia and the recognition of the rights of victims. Nonetheless, in order for this to become a reality, the Government should publicly accept the responsibility of the Disappearance Committee,[14] recognition that is still lacking.

According to Gloria Gómez, it is not just an act of policy, but of humanity: “all of the countries of the world should sign and ratify [the Convention] so that forced disappearance can one day disappear from the face of the earth.”

Legal advances

Colombia has developed a legal framework to confront forced disappearance. The 1991 Constitution prohibits forced disappearance, but it was not until 2000 that the Law 589 was enacted, in which forced disappearance was expressly prohibited and penal sanctions were defined. The Law 589 created a National Search Commission,[15] the National Registry of Disappearances and an urgent search mechanism for locating disappeared persons. The approval of the Law 1408 in August 2010 could mean the strengthening of the rights of victims, since it dictates, “the performance of homage to the victims of the crime of forced disappearance and the definition the mechanisms for locating and identifying them.” The Law establishes family members of the disappeared as victims and stipulates mechanisms to facilitate the identification of the disappeared through the creation of a database of genetic profiles. In October 2010, Colombia ratified the United Nations Convention against Forced Disappearance. This will permit the Forced Disappearance Working Group to carry out investigations and therefore become another tool for lawyers and Colombian victims.[16]