On Tuesday, the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances expressed concerns over what it called an inadequate investigation of the “alarming” number of missing people in Mexico, its consequential low sentences, and “almost absolute impunity”.
111,896 people in Mexico are currently registered as missing in the interior ministry’s official database, a number that does not contain the many more people who disappeared and were later discovered dead.
Most have been missing since 2006, when then-President Felipe Calderon declared a “War on Drugs,” mobilizing the armed forces to combat the increasingly robust cartels and releasing a surge of violence that continues to wobble the nation.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced in late July a revision to the government database, signifying that the real number of disappeared is lower.
The comments of the President raised alarm. Experts and even some officials of the government have instead said the numbers are probably much higher as families usually do not report disappearances – either for fear of reprisals or because they doubt the capability of the authorities to do anything for them.
The UN committee also suggested the government ensure transparency of the procedure used to update the database. So far, no details regarding potential changes have been made public.
The interior ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The committee said, changes to the database should involve groups representing victims and be independently and impartially coordinated by the National Search Commission, while also including efforts to avoid revictimization and save data.
