“Forced disappearances continue to be committed directly by public agents at the federal, state and municipal levels. In addition, organized crime has become a central perpetrator of disappearances, with various forms of collusion and varying degrees of participation, acquiescence, or omission by public servants.”
The foregoing is part of the report of his visit to Mexico that was presented yesterday in Geneva (Switzerland) by the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED, for its acronym in English), the body of independent experts that supervises the implementation of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons against Enforced Disappearances, which was approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization in 2006. Until last February, 98 countries had signed it and 67 had ratified it, Mexico among them.
It is not pleasant to read the report because it describes the terrible situation experienced by the hundreds of thousands of people who suffer from pain, the anguish of not being able to find a loved one, and the government’s disorder in caring for them and resolving the problem, despite the efforts that the federal government carries out, as recognized by the CED, which unfortunately often remain with good intentions because ample economic, technological, material and human resources are not invested in them.
Some of the paragraphs in the report that should shock and outrage us all:
“As of November 26, 2021, 95,121 disappeared persons were registered, of which 112 would have disappeared during the visit of the Committee [del 15 al 26 de noviembre de 2021].
“Between 2006 and 2021 there was an exponential growth in disappearances in the country, since a percentage of more than 98% took place in that period. These data show the close relationship between the increase in disappearances and the beginning of the so-called ‘war on drug trafficking’ (…) during which a policy was put into practice characterized by the deployment of the armed forces to carry out functions of public security, which was maintained and has even worsened in the following six-year terms…
“The Committee considers of particular concern the specific victimization of women who, in most cases, are left in charge of their families and face the search for their loved ones with their own means…
“No less worrying is the situation of human rights defenders, some of whom have been disappeared…
“As of November 26, 2021, only a minimal percentage of the cases of disappearance of persons, between 2 and 6%, had been prosecuted, and only 36 sentences had been issued in cases of disappearance of persons at the national level.
“Added to this is the often passive attitude of judicial institutions in the face of a phenomenon as serious as the disappearance of people.”
The reality described in the CED Report is not that of a country in which everyone is happy and where we are doing well, which is what President Andrés Manuel López Obrador frequently refers to. Not everyone is happy and we are not doing well.
Facebook: Eduardo J Ruiz-Healy
Instagram: ruizhealy
Place: ruizhealytimes.com
Journalist and producer
guest column
Opinionist, columnist, lecturer, media trainer, 35 years of experience in the media, microentrepreneur.