UBPD regulates the certificate that accredits the searcher

The Missing Persons Search Unit (UBPD) issued Resolution number 1141 of 2026, dated August 28, which establishes the criteria for the issuance of the certificate accrediting the status of a searching person. The regulation, signed by the Acting Director General Erik Alejandro Herrera Yepes, was published in Official Gazette number 53,613 on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, on pages 42 and 43, and repeals Resolution number 190 of February 20, 2025.

The certificate becomes an essential support document so that family members of persons reported missing in the context and because of the armed conflict can be included in the Single Registry of Victims (RUV) and accredited in the Single Registry of Searching Women (RUMB). The measure responds to the coordination between the UBPD and the Special Administrative Unit for Comprehensive Attention and Reparation to Victims (UARIV), in development of article 67 of Law 2421 of 2024 and Decree number 063 of 2026, which regulates the Law of Searching Women.

How it is requested and who issues it

The certificate may be requested by the interested person personally or through a proxy. Additionally, the UBPD may prepare it ex officio, with the prior consent of the interested person, when it is appropriate for their incorporation into the corresponding registries.

The preparation and signing of the certificate is the responsibility of the Technical Sub-directorate of Humanitarian Investigation (STIH), which will send it to the requesting person or, in the case of ex officio issuance, directly to the UARIV for the purposes of inclusion in the RUV or accreditation in the RUMB.

Content and deadlines

The certificate will include the following data:

• The full name, identity document, and ID of the searching person (PB).
• The full name and ID of the person reported missing (PDD).
• The Regional Search Plan associated with the missing person.

When the certificate is issued upon request, the STIH must issue and send it within a maximum term of ten (10) business days, counted from the business day following the submission of the request. Ex officio issuance will be carried out within the framework of the special entry route to the RUV provided for persons recognized by the UBPD.

Effects and appeals

The searching person certificate will not, by itself, generate legal, financial, or administrative effects that must be declared by the competent authorities, a fact that will be informed to the searching person and recorded in the certificate itself. The decision regarding inclusion or non-inclusion in the RUV and registration in the RUMB corresponds in all cases to the UARIV.

Against the decision of the STIH denying the issuance of the certificate, the applicant may file a motion for reconsideration within ten (10) business days following its notification, which shall be resolved within five (5) business days. The appeal shall be granted with suspensive effect and shall be resolved by the General Technical and Territorial Sub-directorate within a term of ten (10) business days.

Relevance

The new regulation reduces the administrative burdens placed on searchers and streamlines the exchange of information between the UBPD and the UARIV, favoring the timeliness of actions related to inclusion in the registries. For the family members of those disappeared in the conflict, the certificate is consolidated as a tool that facilitates access to their rights to truth and reparation, within the framework of the Comprehensive System for Peace.

Source: Official Gazette (Colombia), edition 53,613, Wednesday, September 2, 2026, Resolutions section, pp. 42-43 (official reference: Resolution number 1141 of 2026).