Bogotá, October 19 (EFE-RHC)-- Government and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, peace negotiators have reached an agreement covering joint efforts to find more than 25,000 people estimated to have disappeared during Colombia’s over 50-year-old internal conflict.
“Humanitarian search measures” will be taken with the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross and a “special unit” will be formed to search for the missing, the negotiators said in a statement released in Havana, where the two sides have been holding peace talks since November 2012.
The “humanitarian measures” are aimed at “relieving the suffering of the families of people listed as missing and in this way will contribute to upholding their rights,” the negotiators said.
The measures will be implemented “before the signing of the final agreement,” which the two sides have agreed will take place before March 23rd next year.
The government and FARC are “committed” to providing the Red Cross with “the information they have available” on the possible whereabouts of the disappeared and to assist in implementing special humanitarian plans, the negotiators said.
Human rights and victims’ organizations will be consulted in the process, the negotiators said.
The agreement on searching for the disappeared is the latest milestone in the Colombian peace process.
On September 23rd, the government and the FARC unveiled a major agreement on how justice shall be applied during the transition period from war to peace in Colombia.