Chihuahua, Chih., Mexico on August 30, 2022.- On December 21, 2010, the United Nations General Assembly expressed its concern, in particular, about the increase in forced or involuntary disappearances in various regions of the world; therefore, it embraced the approval of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons against Enforced Disappearances and declared August 30 the «International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances», which started to be observed in 2011.

According to the National Registry of Missing and Disappeared Individuals (RNPDNO), to date 105,022 people are disappeared in Mexico, 3,494 of them in the state of Chihuahua, even though it is estimated that due to the lack of trust in the authorities and the risk that reporting entails, these numbers could be much higher.

Disappearances in the country, and especially in the Northern region, represent a humanitarian crisis that requires urgent attention and action. Today on the «International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances» the Women’s Human Rights Center A.C. (CEDEHM) joins the demand of relatives of disappeared persons, whose search does not stop.

We demand that effective, timely, permanent, articulated search actions be carried out, focused on finding them alive, that guarantee the involvement of the families, as established in the guiding search principles presented by the UN Committee Against Enforced Disappearances (CED).

We urge the correct implementation of the General Law on Enforced Disappearance, as well as the necessary background legislation to work on this problem at the state level, since the current attention is not effective in guaranteeing the well-being of families coping with a disappearance.

It is also necessary to allocate sufficient economic, human, and technological resources to Prosecutors and Search Commissions, as well as a complete and up-to-date national registry, which facilitates national coordination for forensic search and identification, since the latter represent a crisis in and of themselves, with the state of Chihuahua having at least 1,500 unidentified people.

The first anniversary of the current state administration is coming up soon and this year, there has been little progress in the matter. We demand that the State comply with its obligation to find disappeared individuals, punish those responsible and repair the damage to the victims and their next of kin in a comprehensive manner, as well as to implement the necessary measures to ensure that the problem stops.

Because we all miss disappeared individuals, we will not stop until they are found.