5 facts you need to know about enforced disappearances in Mexico

According to figures from the Mexican government, there are almost 115,637 forcibly disappeared and unlocated persons in the country. However, the civil society demands not only to take into account the overall figures of missing persons. It is also necessary to ask questions about the most vulnerable groups, age groups and annual trends, because many cases are not reported and their quantification can often vary between official figures and the records of civil society organisations.

Enforced disappearances in Mexico have increased alarmingly year after year in parallel with the militarisation that began in 2006 as part of the government's strategy to reduce violence. Contrary to the desired result, a report by the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México shows that the deployment of troops in the country has led to major human rights violations, such as an increase in the number of disappeared persons. According to RED LUPA, Mexico went from reporting 268 cases in 2006 to 10,315 cases in 2023.

Enforced disappearances in Mexico have been perpetrated by a variety of actors, according to local and international civil society organisations, who also point to the participation of state agents and organised crime by groups linked to drug trafficking.

Families, mostly mothers, and civil society organisations have led local search groups and a national movement to search for disappeared and unlocated persons.

An example of this tireless collective work has been the National Campaign against Enforced Disappearance in Mexico which, made up of families and organisations such as our grantee partner RED TDT, achieved the approval of the General Law on the Disappearance of Persons in 2017 to address the crime of enforced disappearance and guarantee the rights of victims and their families. Since its approval, organisations and families have continuously monitored the content and implementation of the Law.

On the other hand, our grantee partner Código DH has made visible and advocated for the need to strengthen the guarantee of the human rights of disappeared persons and their families in Oaxaca. It has been evident that this work from civil society has been fundamental in supporting the search for disappeared persons, supporting the families affected and influencing the priorities of key actors who have a decision-making role in dealing with this crime.

After the disappearance of the 43 students from Ayotzinapa, the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI in its Spanish acronym) was formed through a formal agreement within the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).This was key to the investigation of the crime and to raising the international awareness about enforced disappearance in Mexico, as well as contributing to the change of the narrative of stigmatisation against the victims.