36 years ago, on March 25th, the journalist and official of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, Alec Collett, was kidnapped by a Lebanese extremist faction in the city of Beirut. He was not heard from again until 2009, when his body was found in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon. This fact led the UN to declare the date as the International Day of Solidarity with Detained or Missing Staff.
This commemoration aims to encourage measures, demand justice administration to those responsible for this event and the protection of officials and peacekeeping personnel of the UN, as well as the community of non-governmental organizations and press.
The Unit for the Victims joins to dignify the families of thousands of people who have given their lives for their work, for a cause, or simply because they are in a situation within the armed conflict.
To date, the Single Victims Registry (RUV in its Spanish acronym) includes 50,408 unique and direct victims of forced disappearance, and there are 126,117 registered persons as attention subjects for this victimizing act in Colombia.
Due to this kind of events, 613548 relatives of disappeared victims have received administrative compensation for $450,965,506,242 COP.
Most of the beneficiaries are in the Antioquia, Meta, Cesar, Santander, Cordoba and Valle del Cauca departments.
(EGG/COG/RAM)
