A/HRC/7/39
page 12
3. Enforced disappearances
29. So far, the depositions by demobilized paramilitary leaders have revealed the location
of 1,009 clandestine graves within their respective zones of influence or control. This has made it
possible to recover the remains of 1,196 victims, most of whom have not yet been identified
(440 were reported as preliminary identified, and 118 fully identified bodies have been returned
to the families).28 The process has certainly revealed the way in which these extremely serious
crimes were systematically committed by paramilitary groups, and the widespread practice of
enforced disappearance in Colombia in recent years.
30. It is urgent to redirect the processes of exhumation so that many more bodies can be
properly identified. This will only happen if there is greater effort to facilitate the participation of
the victims’ families in the processes of investigation, in line with international standards.
Colombian and foreign forensic experts have already made this recommendation to the
authorities. The National Plan for the Search of the Disappeared, issued in February 2007,
favours collective and regional investigations, thus facilitating the identification of patterns and
optimizing the efforts to identify the remains. But the Plan has barely gone into operation. There
have been positive experiences in the application of this type of approach in Santa Marta,
Magdalena, and Yopal, Casanare, which are worth perfecting and extending to other regions,
with the inclusion of guarantees for the relatives.
4. Torture and the excessive use of force
31. The office in Colombia has received information on cases of torture, cruel, inhuman and
degrading treatment and the excessive use of force by members of the security forces. In Cesar,
complaints have stated that in some extrajudicial executions attributed to Army personnel, the
victims had been tortured.
32. Likewise, the office in Colombia received information on torture inflicted on soldiers by
their superiors in Bogotá, and it was also informed of cases of torture attributed to members of
the National Police in certain police stations or during patrols in Bogotá, Huila and Norte de
Santander. In the first of these cases, six officers in Bogotá were removed from active service.
The office in Colombia is also following up complaints on excessive use of force by members of
the Police Force’s Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (ESMAD) in Chocó and Putumayo.
33. Cases were reported of abuses allegedly committed by members of the police against the
transgender population engaged in prostitution in Bogotá, Medellin and Cali.
5. Illegal or arbitrary detentions
34. Complaints were made about illegal or arbitrary detentions in which warrants were
exclusively based on the testimony of former guerrillas, which was not properly corroborated by
28
Data from the Attorney General’s Office, Justice and Peace Unit, covering information
from 29 March 2006 to 19 December 2007.
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