Flunked! UN Committee condemns Mexico in combating forced disappearance

They deliver a preliminary report on the visit to Mexico of the Special Committee on the matter.

MEXICO, (December 07, 2021).- In Mexico, impunity, poor investigation, lag in cases, lack of professional preparation and lack of coordination between authorities to combat enforced disappearances prevail, concludes a preliminary report from the UN and the Ministry of the Interior.

At the conclusion of the visit to Mexico by the UN Committee against Forced Disappearance – which took place from November 15 to 26 to 13 entities of the country: Mexico City, Chihuahua, Coahuila, State of Mexico, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Jalisco, Morelos, Nayarit , Nuevo León, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas and Veracruz– point out that, regarding justice, “Impunity continues in the administration of justice against the crime of disappearance.”

Presented by Undersecretary Alejandro Encinas, the document also adds that “disappearance prevails as a practice predominantly associated with organized crime,” and that “the investigation model for the administration of justice must be rethought.”

Among the reasons, they indicate that “the Public Ministries have excessive workloads, the investigation must be professionalized and a context analysis and macro-case investigation is needed.”

It stresses that there is a “lack of coordination between prosecutors, authorities and the victims’ families; the prosecutors do not assume their responsibility in the search and prosecution of justice due to an erroneous conception of their autonomy, and there are limitations for the victims to access justice ”.

The members of the committee participated in 79 meetings with 80 authorities from the three branches of the Union, autonomous bodies, and with families and groups of the victims, including the head of government, nine governors, and 33 groups of victims from 31 entities.

On behalf of the federal Executive, with the Secretaries of Security, National Defense, Navy, Foreign Relations, with the National Guard, with the Mechanism for the Protection of Journalists and Human Rights Defenders , the Ayotzinapa and Dirty War commissions .

On behalf of the autonomous bodies, the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic, the National Human Rights Commission, the INE and the Inai participated.

Source: El Financiero