The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced Friday that dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have released four hostages.
«Today we received four people who were held by the second Marquetalia,» the ICRC said in a statement on the social network Twitter, detailing that they were in a rural area of Nariño, in the southwest of the country.
The four people were in good health and were transferred by the ICRC and the Colombian Ombudsman’s Office to different locations to reunite them with their families.
«The parties to the conflict must protect the lives and dignity of persons who are not or have ceased to take part in hostilities and must treat them humanely in all circumstances. In this context, we welcome the humanitarian gesture of the armed group in handing over these people to us so that they can be reunited with their families,» said the head of the ICRC in Pasto, Michele Arisi.
In this regard, the ICRC recalled that it plays a «strictly humanitarian» role in the releases, acting as a «neutral intermediary».
«For this reason, we do not make public reference to the circumstances in which the deprivation of liberty of the persons released may have occurred, nor do we reveal information that may affect their safety,» they specified.
Throughout the year, 60 people have been handed over to the ICRC by various armed actors. The humanitarian organization reiterates to the parties to the conflict that, as a neutral intermediary, it is ready to carry out other humanitarian operations aimed at alleviating the consequences of armed conflict and violence on those who do not or no longer take part in hostilities.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
