This section is contributive
by NGO's and other institutions.
Non-governmental
organizations
Association
of Relatives of Detained and Disappeared Persons, ASFADDES
ASFADDES (Association of Relatives
of Detained and Disappeared Persons) was founded in 1982, following the
disappearance of twelve students of the Nacional and Distrital Universities,
both in Bogotá. It was legally registered in March 1985. This organization
is principally made up of women, men, children, young people, housewives,
peasants, most of them of middle and lower-middle class, who have a disappeared
relative.
ASFADDES’ activities revolve around three objectives: truth, justice, and full redress for the disappearance of family members. The main purpose of the association is to demand punishment for those responsible for forced disappearances in Colombia. For over fifteen years, in conjunction with other Human Rights organizations which currently form part of the "Coordinación Colombia-Europa", ASFADDES has devoted a great deal of effort to the aim of bringing about the enactment of a law characterizing the crime of forced disappearance and other crimes associated with it, by placing pressure on the government and the Congress.
A civil-society organization, it works with the families of the victims to help them overcome, both individually and collectively, the psychological trauma of forced disappearance. ASFADDES monitors the development of cases and provides children, young persons and elderly persons related to the victims with assistance in connection with the filing of reports, legal aid and documentation, assistance before the authorities, transport, education, self-management and social welfare. Depending on the case, the organization brings criminal and other types of proceedings, including those brought against the state under administrative law. On several occasions it has succeeded in bringing those responsible to justice and in obtaining compensation, as a form of reparation for the damage caused by the state. The task of monitoring cases carried out by ASFADDES, has allowed the organization to discriminate between different forms of disappearance, and to conclude that in 70 per cent of cases disappeared relatives are found dead and with signs of torture.
ASFADDES is a national organization
with regional offices in Cundinamarca, Bucaramanga, Popayán, Neiva,
Medellín and Barrancabermeja, and has a National Coordination Team
based in Bogotá. It is a member of FEDEFAM (Latin American Federation
of Associations of Relatives of Detained and Disappeared Persons), and
has consultative status with the UN, category 2.