The United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) stands by its claim that “20,000 unidentified bodies are stored in a hangar at Bogotá’s El Dorado International Airport,” despite widespread rejection from Colombian authorities. The statement made public on December 5, remains unsubstantiated.
The UN asserts that its findings are based on “credible sources” gathered during its two-week mission to Colombia, which aimed to investigate enforced disappearances across the country. In a letter to journalist Melquisedec Torres of Caracol Radio, UN spokesperson Vivian Kwok defended the Committee’s methodology, stating, “The Committee follows a strict methodology to ensure that findings, observations, and recommendations are based on first-hand observations or corroborated information from credible sources.”
Kwok elaborated that during the visit, the delegation met with 80 authorities, including Colombia’s Minister of Justice, the Attorney General, the Ombudsman, victims, and civil society organizations. The Geneva-based official noted that the Committee also visited five detention centers and accompanied operations in “a crematorium and a cemetery overflowed with unidentified bodies and human remains.” While providing no further specifics of where the horrific cemetery is located, or the alleged hangar at El Dorado International Airport, Kwok emphasizes the dystopian scale of the issue, writing that “thousands of unidentified corpses lie in cemeteries or poorly managed warehouses” across Colombia.
Colombian officials have fiercely criticized the claim as unverifiable and damaging. President Gustavo Petro rejected the report, labeling it “categorically untrue.” Bogotá Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán demanded the UN provide concrete evidence, warning, “Unsubstantiated allegations of this magnitude can erode trust in international institutions and distract from the real work of addressing disappearances.”
A thorough investigation conducted by Colombia’s Prosecutor’s Office, the National Institute of Legal Medicine, and El Dorado’s operator, Opain, revealed no evidence of a mass grave at the airport. “We categorically deny the existence of such a hangar and have received no prior indication of any related activity,” the Institute of Legal Medicine stated.
Despite the backlash, Kwok tows the UN line, stressing that Colombia is overwhelmed by enforced disappearances, which continue to occur daily. “The Committee’s findings underscore the tragic issue of unidentified bodies and their inappropriate storage across the country,” she stated. The report describes a society grappling with a crisis of disappearances, exacerbated by a lack of comprehensive public policy to prevent them.
The Committee’s mission spanned multiple departments, including visits to Bogotá, Cali, Medellín, Santa Marta, and Villavicencio, among others. Meetings with victims and civil society organizations highlighted the extent of the missing persons tragedy. “Colombia lacks a comprehensive public policy to prevent enforced disappearances,” reads the report. Kwok reaffirmed that the Committee’s conclusions will be released in April 2025.
Colombian officials remain deeply skeptical. “Until credible proof is presented, this allegation risks overshadowing the real and pressing issue of enforced disappearances in Colombia,” said Mayor Galán. For now, the UN’s claim remains unverified, fueling a contentious debate over the credibility and accountability of the multilateral entity.
The implications of the mass grave affirmation for Colombia’s busiest airport, and one of the largest transportation hubs in Latin America, are enormous. Not only does the CED statement tarnish the reputation of a modern transportation hub relied upon by millions of travelers, but the discovery of even a single human body on the grounds of Aeropuerto El Dorado could trigger significant legal consequences. Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) could designate the airport “special protection status,” as it has done for vast areas of national territory where atrocities were committed against civilians during the country’s internal conflict. Such status has already been granted to rivers, estuaries, and cemeteries where the remains of missing persons are being exhumed by forensic experts.
The UN report comes shortly after the JEP released figures documenting the forced recruitment of 18,677 children by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla between 1971 and 2016. According to the JEP, the highest rates of child recruitment occurred between 1996 and 2016, with six former FARC commanders – Rodrigo Londoño, Jaime Alberto Parra, Milton de Jesús Toncel, Pablo Catatumbo, Pastor Alape, and Julián Gallo – facing charges for war crimes, including child recruitment, physical abuse, torture, homicide, and sexual violence. In their 500-page indictment, magistrates shared testimonies from over 1,000 former child combatants, revealing the horrific conditions and abuses endured under the FARC’s command.
With the official number of 18,677 child soldiers confirmed by JEP (after a decade-long investigation), and 20,000 unconfirmed dead at El Dorado Airport according to the UN (after a two-week trip), a critical question must be raised: in whose interest does this numerical parity now lie? Does it serve to spotlight Colombia’s violent past, or does it risk undermining the credibility of Colombia’s institutions and country as a whole?
