Colombia

Benetech provides ongoing technical assistance for local human rights organizations throughout Colombia and has conducted groundbreaking statistical analysis of unreported missing persons in a portion of the country.

Benetech’s Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG) has worked for several years with the Colombian Commission of Jurists (CCJ) and provided assistance to the Project for Testimony, Truth, and Reconciliation (TEVERE) of the Colombian Catholic Church's National Secretariat of the Social Ministry and Caritas-Colombia.

As HRDAG continued its work in Colombia, we decided to create a country-specific Board of Advisors. The BoA members are experts in different fields working in the Colombian human rights community. They provide advice and guidance to HRDAG on how our scientific methods and analysis can best impact the ongoing debates in Colombia. You can read more about our Board of Advisors here.

In March 2007, HRDAG expanded its training and support role in Colombia. In its paper "Assessing Claims of Declining Lethal Violence in Colombia," HRDAG staff evaluated assertions that violence in Colombia declined after the demobilization of paramilitaries. We showed that these claims rest both on the overinterpretation of unadjusted data and on unsound casual inferences. We concluded that multiple data sources are needed to estimate the true rates of violence in Colombia after demobilization and we suggest avenues for further research toward this end. This research paper is also available in Spanish - "Para Evaluar Afirmaciones Sobre la Reducción de la Violencia Letal en Colombia."

In October of 2007, in partnership with the human rights organization EQUITAS, HRDAG released a report that provides a scientific estimation of the number of unreported missing people in the Colombian department or state of Casanare. The report will help guide investigations of missing persons across Colombia where data collection efforts are vital to understanding the magnitude, trends and patterns of violence.

The report, "Missing People In Casanare" estimates that the total number of missing persons in Casanare from 1986-2007 is 2,553 compared to the 1,500 persons reported missing during this period. This analysis suggests that between thirty and forty percent of missing persons in Casanare were unreported during this period. This report is also available in Spanish - "Los Desaparecidos de Casanare."

To accurately estimate the total number of undocumented missing people in Casanare, HRDAG statisticians compared data collected by 13 different organizations. The statisticians matched the datasets to identify reports about the same disappearances in different sources. They merged matched records, eliminating some disappearances that had been identified as homicides by other sources. Finally, they used a technique called multiple systems estimation that helps control for biases due to underreporting.

The is the first study where HRDAG used Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) to make its estimates. All the underlying Multiple Systems Estimation (MSE) and BMA models for each stratum in the study are available for review. All these models were taken into account for the final estimates. An explanation of what these models mean is included in the report.

While the rate of undocumented missing persons in Casanare does not necessarily represent the rate that could be found in all of Colombia's 32 departments, the report argues that additional data should be gathered throughout the country and made available for rigorous analysis by statisticians and social scientists.

The authors of the report believe that methodologically rigorous, theoretically grounded scientific analysis of violence can help enable honest dialog to improve the human rights situation in Colombia.

The report was positively received by families of the disappeared, non-governmental organizations and members of the diplomatic community in Colombia. The analysis is expected to help these groups work more effectively with Colombian authorities involved in searching for the disappeared and conducting exhumations. The release of this report corresponded with an expanded effort by a special commission from the Colombian General Attorney's Office (Fiscalia) to search for missing persons in Casanare.

In addition to investigating the number of disappeared people in Colombia, HRDAG staff continues to work with the Colombian Commission of Jurists. The CCJ employs judicial means to ensure full respect for civil and political rights, economic, social and cultural rights as well as international humanitarian law in Colombia. HRDAG has customized its Analyzer software for the CCJ to create a foundation for their information management system and strengthen their statistical analysis of human rights incidents.

Benetech’s HRDAG also remains in partnership with the Catholic Church's Social Ministry which has, for many years, accompanied and assisted local communities affected by the armed conflict in Colombia. With HRDAG’s help, the Project for Testimony, Truth, and Reconciliation (TEVERE) of the Colombian Catholic Church's National Secretariat of the Social Ministry and Caritas-Colombia is intensifying efforts to build a path toward truth and reconciliation. HRDAG is providing TEVERE with Martus and Analyzer software and advising them on technical aspects of the project design and implementation.

Originally based at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), HRDAG has provided technical assistance in the following countries:

Africa

• Chad
• Ghana
• Liberia
• Sierra Leone
• South Africa

Asia

• Afghanistan
• Bangladesh
• Cambodia
• Timor-Leste
• Sri Lanka

Europe

• Kosovo

Middle East

• Iran

Central America and Caribbean

• El Salvador
• Guatemala
• Haiti
• México

South America

• Colombia
• Perú

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The Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG) applies information technology solutions and statistical techniques to help human rights advocates build evidence-based arguments.