The Role of Missing Persons Associations in Fostering Reconciliation & Democracy

• In Event: Transitional Justice and Post-Conflict Repair

Abstract

Missing persons associations are often critical actors in pressuring their governments to identify and return the remains of those that were forcibly disappeared during a prior wave of authoritarianism or conflict. Subsequently, these organizations need to engage in the political process in order to pursue their interests. In Colombia, more than 100,000 are missing as a result of decades of violence, and Colombia’s 2016 peace agreement with the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia contains provisions to help address this reality. As a result, several local missing persons associations have formed or expanded their work since 2016.

Using survey data collected in Colombia in 2023, which was funded by a grant from the American Political Science Association, along with in-country fieldwork and interviews, this paper outlines the democratic political strategies missing persons associations use in Colombia to influence post-conflict policies. Moreover, the impact of these organizations and their strategies in fostering reconciliation and democratization is measured.

Author

• Craig K. Lang, Elizabethtown College