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Forced disappearance

Forced disappearance has been an increasing form of crime in Mexico. In the last four years the  official count of disappeared in Mexico has risen from 22.000 to 33.000 .However, this number is most likely higher since a lot of these crimes go unreported.

These figures are even more alarming when we look at the age statistics. According to the Mexico’s Secretariat of the Interior the whereabouts of 15.516 people between the age of 13 and 29 still remain unknown. For children under 18 this is higher than 7000.

The biggest impact of these horrific crimes are with the families from disappeared. As indicated by Daniel Wilkinson, managing director at Human Rights Watch the most cruel thing is the lasting feeling of hope that your loved one might still be alive. Rocío Morales a mother whose son disappeared eleven years ago says: ‘I don’t know what happened to him, this is not life this is like a living death to not know where my children are’ .  Mother’s day 2019 thousands of mothers marched in cities across Mexico to demand authorities to find their children. They chanted : ‘ Children, listen, your mother is still fighting’ in Mexico city . Next to marches several movements have been formed where people can come together to find support and keep fighting to get their loved ones back. A good example of this is ‘movimiento por nuestros desaparecidos en México’ meaning movement of our disappeared in Mexico. They have put together 8 clear mechanism and methods for the search that should be incorporated in the law regarding forced disappearance.

A turning point was the disappearance of 43 students in Ayotzinapa(see also: 2014 Iguala mass kidnapping). Under domestic and international pressure the Mexican government was pressured to conduct a investigation through a commission that would uncover the truth about what happened. However, the investigation that followed this event was seen as highly flawed and showed the abuse of the justice system in Mexico and the refusal to challenge the human rights violations. Consequently the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) revealed in a report how Mexican authorities violated the right to justice and truth for victims in several cases. In response, Amnesty International urges Mexican government to implement the recommendations made by the OHCHR in order to establish an independent and impartial judicial system that will diminish the occurrence of these types of crimes and other forms of human rights violations .

––IPUvA (talk) 11:50, 16 May 2019 (UTC)