UN, “concerned” because Mexico does not comply with recommendations to prevent disappearance of people

Mexico has not complied with the recommendations, some of them urgent, made in recent years by the UN Committee against Enforced Disappearances, that would allow to have more reliable data against the crime, said Friday the representative of the organism, Carmen Villa.

At the conclusion of the 10-day work in the country, Villa stressed that they even found that during the coronavirus pandemic there was a “notable” increase in the disappearances of children, adolescents and women, a crime that continues to be “generalized” in the Latin American nation.

“We note with concern that several of the recommendations made by the Committee to Mexico implementation is still pending in 2015 and 2018, “Villa told reporters.

Among the recommendations not complied with, he explained, are to overcome the high levels of impunity, give more powers to the search commissions, address the root causes that generate disappearances and consider that the State’s security approach is insufficient and inappropriate.

Villa mentioned that during the visit to Mexico, where they met with both victims and authorities, received information that there are patterns in cases of forced disappearances that show scenes of collusion between state agents and organized crime.

According to official data, there are currently 95,121 missing persons in Mexico, although it is not clear how many of these cases were enforced disappearances, that is, perpetrated by agents of the State or groups or individuals acting with their support.

In response, the government of Mexico recognized that there are “important challenges” both in cases of forced disappearance and in others committed by individuals and admitted that with the help of the committee they will be able to advance in “prevention, investigation, search for disappeared persons, processes of surrender of accounts and reparation for victims “.

Currently, Mexico is in second place, after Iraq, as the country with the highest number of urgent actions presented to the HIM-HER-IT, a victim protection mechanism that requires search actions and reports on them in cases of forced disappearance.

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