The FARC must help the Colombian government in addressing the situation of the thousands of people missing due to the country’s armed conflict, according to the Ministry of Interior.
The government were responding to the revelation that 2,760 people are currently recorded missing – for which the FARC are held responsible — according to statistics given by Inspector General Alejandro Ordoñez and Uribist representative Alvaro Hernan Prada.
Interior Minister Juan Fernando Cristo said on Wednesday that guerrilla group the FARC should formally commit to helping the situation at the table of discussion in Havana, where the rebels have been negotiating with the Colombian government since November 2012.
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“In the peace process it will be established that there must be a contribution from the FARC in the location and identification of the many missing people that without doubt in their 50 years of criminal activity they have generated,” said Cristo.
According to the minister, the government has made a clear commitment to victims of the conflict in general, which includes victims of enforced disappearance.
“Regardless of what happens with the table in Havana, there is a clearly designed policy implemented by the State to give a space to organizations of the victims of forced disappearance,” Cristo stated.
“Every day we can give a little more relief to the thousands of Colombian families that have had to live through the drama of the disappearance of their loved ones,” said the minister on Wednesday.
Demands to the government
In the House of Representatives, Ordoñez and Prada demanded greater effectiveness from the government in investigating allegations of enforced disappearance.
According to the Inspector General, the disappearances committed by the FARC are “crimes against humanity” because they meet the requirements outlined in the law and in the international treaties that Colombia has signed.
Further to this, Ordoñez said that there is an “imbalance” from the State in the investigation of the missing.
“This imbalance is very serious because the existence of a negligent attitude from the institutions creates high percentages of illegitimacy,” said the chief prosecutor.
Ordoñez also claimed on Wednesday that forced disappearance is the crime that represents the highest levels of impunity in Colombia.