Bogota, August 30 (RHC)-- The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has urged the new Colombian government to search for the over 83,000 people who disappeared in the country, in commemoration of the International Day of the Disappeared, which is observed every year on August 30.

The head of the ICRC delegation in Colombia, Christoph Harnisch, has highlighted that "The new Government headed by Ivan Duque) must make an effort to prioritize the search for missing persons and ensure that (everything is done to ensure that the families have a response."

The Unit for the Search of Disappeared People (UBPD) was created as part of the peace accords between the Colombian Government and the now political party Revolutionary Alternative Forces of the Commons (FARC) which was signed in 2016. Luz Marina Monzon, director of the UBPD, asserted that political will is needed because families are yet to receive any response.

Harnisch also highlighted the importance of having human and financial resources in order to work effectively, in the territories and with the families, in the search process.