PBI-Colombia welcomes the United Nations recognition of December 19 as International Women Searchers Day
Text: “The struggle of women searchers is recognized. At Peace Brigades International, we welcome the UN’s recognition of women searchers and the designation of 19 December as International Women Searchers’ Day.”
The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has posted on social media:
“At Peace Brigades International, we welcome the UN’s recognition of women searchers and the proclamation of December 19 as the International Day of Women Searchers.
This recognition is, above all, the result of years of struggle, organizing, and advocacy by the women searchers themselves, who have transformed the search for their loved ones into a collective fight for truth, memory, justice, and dignity.
We especially acknowledge the path taken by the @fundacionnydiaerikabautista [the ‘Nydia Erika Bautista’ Foundation] and the National Network of Women Searchers—initiatives accompanied by PBI—which have sustained and championed this demand in international arenas, advocating for political recognition of women searchers and their vital role in defending human rights.
Their struggle paves the way.”
The Instagram image adds: “We would like to acknowledge FNEB and the National Network of Women Searchers, who have championed the call for this recognition to reach the UN.”
They have also posted on social media:
“The struggle of women searchers is recognized by the world!
At the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation, we celebrate the United Nations’ declaration of December 19 as the International Day of Recognition for Women Searching for Missing Persons.
This achievement acknowledges decades of struggle by women who transformed absence into a quest, organizing themselves and demanding truth and justice.
We celebrate this alongside the National Network of Women Searchers and all the women who have never stopped asking: Where are they?
December 19 is a victory for women searchers and an acknowledgment that searching is a right.
We continue to search. Until we find them.”
Infobae further reports: “The General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) proclaimed December 19 as the International Day of Recognition of Women Searchers for Disappeared Persons, a date that seeks to make visible and recognize the work of thousands of women in different countries who have assumed the search for relatives and other people whose whereabouts are unknown.”
That article adds: “The resolution not only sets a new date in the international calendar, but also includes a series of recommendations addressed to member states, international organizations, civil society, academic institutions, the media and the private sector. Among the approaches is the promotion of events and activities aimed at highlighting the work carried out by women searchers in different parts of the world. The international organization also invited to promote measures to prevent and combat discrimination and violence against women who participate in the search for missing persons, in addition to promoting and protecting their human rights.”
The Mexican newspaper Mileno also notes: “Grace Fernández of the Búscame … search collective in Mexico expressed the importance of recognizing the work of women searchers, when there are currently 131,974 missing or unlocated people in the country, according to the National Registry of Missing and Unlocated Persons, of the Ministry of the Interior (RNPDNO-Segob).”
We continue to follow this.
