Article by PBI-Canada
On March 19, the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation (FNEB) tweeted that it had met with Juliette de Rivero, Representative of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia, and leaders of Bolívar, Buenaventura, Madres por la Vida (Mothers for Life) and Mujer Sigue mis Pasos (Woman Follow My Steps).
The meeting was accompanied by Peace Brigades International.
PBI-Colombia has explained: “The Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation for Human Rights is an organization of relatives of the victims of forced disappearance from five regions around the country and an interdisciplinary group of lawyers, social workers and experts in social archives and communication, who accompany people who have suffered the disappearance of one or several loved ones.”
“A specific focus of the Foundation are cases of enforced disappearances of girls and women in the armed conflict and as a result of socio-political violence in the country, in which signs of gender violence have been identified.”
PBI-Colombia adds: “FNEB wants to draw attention to the differential impacts that enforced disappearances have left on the lives, bodies, and rights of female victims and of the women who seek missing relatives. In its work with victims of enforced disappearance, the organization prioritizes meeting the specific needs of women.”
Yanette Bautista has been fighting against forced disappearances in Colombia since the disappearance of her 32-year-old sister Nydia Erika on August 30, 1987. Members of the Battalion of Intelligence and Counterintelligence of the Colombian National Army have been named as responsible for the disappearance of Nydia Erika.
Yanette established the Foundation in 1999 while in exile from Colombia.
With respect to the other organizations at the meeting:
Mujer Sigue mis Pasos is an “organization that aims to vindicate and defend the rights of victims of sexual violence.”
And Madres por la Vida “consists of women mothers, wives, daughters, relatives of people whose husbands, sons, relatives, have been direct victims of crimes of murder and those of humanity, enforced disappearance and displacement.”
