Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared in Honduras

Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH, Spanish: Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras) is a human rights NGO in Honduras founded in 1982 by 12 families of disappeared Hondurans, including Bertha Oliva de Nativí (also spelt: Berta, Olivia), whose husband Professor Tomás Nativí was disappeared in 1981.

Honduras had a history of several coups d'etat and military governments during the second half of the twentieth century. A civilian government was elected in 1981, but human rights violations continued. The military unit Battalion 3-16, which received training and support from the United States Central Intelligence Agency both in Honduras and at U.S. military bases and in Chile during the presidency of the dictator Augusto Pinochet., carried out political assassinations and torture of suspected political opponents of the government. Amnesty International estimated that at least 184 people were "disappeared" during from 1980 to 1992 in Honduras, most likely by the Honduran military.

According to COFADEH, people from 69 families in Honduras were disappeared in 1982. At the end of the year, 12 families, including Bertha Oliva de Nativí, whose husband Professor Tomás Nativí was disappeared in 1981, created COFADEH.

COFADEH became a legally recognised organisation in 2001.

COFADEH states that its original aim was to get back their disappeared family members alive. It says that this has been achieved in some cases, but not for the majority. It claims that "between 1980 and 1989 at least 184 persons disappeared without any investigation carried out by the state nor with any conviction of [those] responsible." Since then it has extended its aims to include other severe violations of human rights, promotion and education of human rights, and "investigation and legal documentation of cases".

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