PBI-Colombia accompanies Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation at meeting on rights of women searchers with Ombudsman

Published by Brent Patterson on June 5, 2025June 5, 2025

Photo: FNEB meets with Ombudsman.

On May 27, PBI-Colombia posted:

“We accompanied the family of @fneb [the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation] in a meeting with the Ombudsman @MarnIris [Iris Marín Ortiz]. The persistence of enforced disappearances in the context of serious humanitarian crises is alarming. Likewise, it is urgent to advance comprehensive guarantees for women searchers, recognized as peacebuilders. #Paz #rightsofsearchers #cedaw [Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women].”

This followed the FNEB posting on social media:

“The Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation, together with Women Searchers from 8 territories, met with the Ombudsman @MarnIris to raise their voices against: The serious crisis of forced disappearance that still persists in the territories; The risks and threats to life and liberty faced by Women Searchers; The lack of guarantees in their humanitarian work.

We demand an Ombudsman’s Report on the situation of Women Searchers and actions that contribute to their protection. As well as for the regulation of the Law on the protection of the rights of women searchers.”

After the meeting, the Office of the Ombudsman also posted on their social media account:

“Dialogue as a tool for building memory and searching for truth.

The Ombudsman @MarnIris met with women and men searchers from different parts of the country from the foundation @nydia_erika to analyze the challenges in the implementation of the Women Searchers Law and strengthen the ombudsman’s work of accompanying them in the protection of their rights.

They request urgent support from the State to guarantee their right to search without fear and to live with dignity.

We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to protecting and supporting those facing absence and grief. To the women searching, we say: you are not alone.”

Ombudsman Iris Marin Ortiz

The Office of the Ombudsman notes: “Iris Marín Ortiz (Bogotá, 1977) is a constitutional lawyer graduated from the Faculty of Jurisprudence of the Universidad del Rosario (1995-2001), an expert in transitional justice, peace and human rights. On August 16, 2024, she was elected Ombudsman of Colombia for the period 2024-2028, being the first woman appointed to head this institution in 35 years of existence.”

The legislation

In March 2025, Blu Radio reported: “Lawyer Yanette Bautista, director and founder of the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation [explains that] the Law on the Protection of the Rights of Women Searchers, also known as Law 2364, represents a significant advance in the fight for justice and reparation for women who are searching for their missing loved ones. …Currently, [the law] is in a regulatory process that has presented several challenges. Although it was enacted in June 2024 and a deadline was set for its regulation, there are still articles that have not been implemented, according to [Bautista].”

Photo: October 19, 2022, the day the Bill was filed.

On April 4, 2024, Bill No. 242 was approved in the Senate. Then on June 18, 2024, Law 2364 of 2024, the Comprehensive Law for the Protection of the Rights of Women Searchers, was ratified by President Gustavo Petro.

Accompaniment

Peace Brigades International has been accompanying the “Nydia Erika Bautista” Foundation (FNEB) occasionally since 2007 and in full since 2016.