MEXICO CITY: The U.N. Committee on Enforced Disappearances has expressed concerns over the alarming number of disappearances in Mexico and low rate of convictions giving almost absolute impunity to criminals, Western media reported on Tuesday.
According to the interior ministry’s official database, 111,896 people are currently registered as missing in Mexico. The number does not include those who went missing and were found dead later.
Most of the people disappeared since 2006
Most of the people have disappeared since 2006, when then-President Felipe Calderon announced a war against drugs lords. He also mobilized the security forces of the country to fight the increasingly powerful drug cartels and unleashing a wave of violence that continues in Mexico.
In last July, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador ordered a revision to the government database, proposing that the actual numbers of disappeared is in fact lower.
Read Also: Seven killed in Church Roof Collapse in Mexico
Experts and even some government officials have expresses concern over the President’s announcement adding that the numbers of the disappeared persons are likely much higher as families often do not report disappearances due to the fear of reprisals or they do not trust the ability of the authorities.
The U.N. committee has called upon the Mexican government to ensure transparency in the system used to update the database. So far, no details about possible changes in the index of missing persons have been made public.
The UN has said that changes to the database should involve groups representing victims and be independently and impartially coordinated by the National Search Commission.
