Families of Mexico's Disappeared Still Waiting for Law to Help Find Loved Ones Nick Lyne - El Pais
go to original March 31, 2017

Families want to take part in searches aware of the corruption that has corroded the justice system (EFE/Cuautémoc Moreno)

Mexico’s already-poor human-rights record has worsened in recent years as a result of the state’s decade-long war against drugs cartels: 15 months after President Enrique Peña sent Congress a bill to improve and coordinate efforts between federal and state authorities in the search of the 31,000 people missing as a result of the violence, the families of the so-called “disappeared” are calling for legislators to move on the issue.

“We have attended working groups in the Senate to outline our struggle – they listen to us, but they are not being honest, because there is no question of doing what we ask and things are constantly being delayed,” says Mario Vergara, a member of an association of families of disappeared in the western state of Guerrero, adding that a national registry of the disappeared needs to be created.

In February 2015, the UN’s Committee on Forced Disappearances expressed its concern about human rights in Mexico, pointing out that forced disappearances involving members of the security forces and public officials are widespread. In September of that year, several organizations presented a draft bill to the Senate that aimed to prevent such abuses, and that would facilitate finding disappeared people and provide for full compensation for victims.

International pressure over the disappearance of 43 student teachers in Guerrero in September 2014, along with the UN’s observations, led President Peña to present a bill on the disappearance of people in December 2015. Since then, four Senatorial commissions have studied these proposals and others with the aim of producing a report outlining its recommendations – so far to no effect.

Read the rest at El País

Related: New Tips Back Search at Mexico's Veracruz State Mass Grave Site (Associated Press)

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