Mexico: The Missing | International Committee of the Red Cross
ICRC/L. Gómez

Mexico: The Missing

According to official figures, there are at least 61,637 people missing in Mexico. Every day, public prosecutor’s offices and search commissions receive reports of missing persons or information about cases. Some of these cases could be solved if searches were carried out immediately. Meanwhile, unidentified remains arrive at forensic science departments on a daily basis, some of which could be identified if they were analysed quickly and properly preserved.
Article 22 April 2020 Mexico

In Mexico, as in the rest of the world, the ICRC promotes the inclusion of humanitarian objectives and responses in government measures in this area in order to address the suffering of families of the missing, including mental health support. It also encourages the government to adopt measures in line with the scale and complexity of the problem. We believe that the best way to deliver timely, good-quality responses is to fully implement the model established in the Missing Persons Act, which came into force in 2018. It provides for the creation of a number of bodies, tools and mechanisms for coordination at the federal and state level and establishes the principle of "joint participation" by the families of missing people, who are recognized as agents as well as beneficiaries.

We advise the authorities of some states (for example, Mexico, Querétaro, Coahuila and Veracruz) on how to bring their legal frameworks into line with the Missing Persons Act.

In Guadalajara, Jalisco, relatives of missing persons attend an integration session of the ICRC programme to support families of missing persons. ICRC/B. Islas

We also contributed, at the federal level, to designing the extraordinary forensic identification mechanism, the standard search protocol and the north-east regional search plan.

In order to increase coordination among the different authorities and improve the effectiveness of search mechanisms, it is necessary to continue strengthening the national search system and its ability to coordinate with the states; consider the creation of local coordination mechanisms; develop the unified information technology and computer system; and approve the standard search protocol and other standard operating procedures for forensic investigation.

The activities we carried out to this end included familiarizing federal authorities (INE, National Search Commission and Public Prosecutor's Office) with the processes implemented in Colombia for the identification of bodies using fingerprinting, with a view to adapting the processes used in Mexico to search for matches between post-mortem fingerprints and administrative records.

We also provided monitoring and guidance on the establishment of basic forensic records for the forensic examination services of the states of Guerrero, Jalisco, Coahuila, Mexico, Veracruz and Puebla.

It is crucial for the families of missing people to be at the centre of all activities in order to ensure their involvement in every step of the process. The response is for them; it is they who are searching and who know better than anyone what they need.

Sergio belongs to an association of families who are looking for people who went missing in Guerrero. After years of looking for his daughter, he finally found her although, sadly, she was dead.

Knowing what happened changes your life completely; your family changes altogether, and you become a different person. When you don't know, you are trapped in a living death; you can't eat or sleep. All you think about is searching and searching until you find them ...
In my particular case, I spent two years and eight months looking for my daughter. Three months after I started my search, she was already in the morgue at the forensic science department, but we didn't know that then. My wife and I went to the department on several occasions, but they always told us that there was no one of that description there.

Facts and figures

419 unidentified bodies were examined
and stored in dignified conditions in facilities designated for this purpose in the state of Guerrero, and the relevant documents were prepared.
The ante-mortem/post-mortem (AM/ PM) database tool was used to record data on 6,467 missing persons,
5,175 unidentified bodies and 4,289 recovery sites, leading to the identification of 795 people.
82 specialists in consular protection
from member countries of the Regional Conference on Migration took part in a workshop held in Guatemala to prepare a guide for consulates on searching for missing migrants.
26 people were identified
as the result of a workshop, held in Piedras Negras (Coahuila) and attended by 48 people, to set up networks for the sharing of information between the different authorities responsible for dealing with cases of migrants who go missing.
130 forensic officers received training
at workshops on forensic photography and fingerprinting in Piedras Negras, Acuña and Tijuana (Baja California).
1,925 body bags were donated
to forensic institutions in the states of Guerrero, Baja California, Puebla, Veracruz, Mexico and Coahuila.
More than 100 specialists
in different fields (medical examiners, prosecutors and local search commission members) from all over the country gathered for the 10th national meeting of forensic science departments in Acapulco.
The final design of a storage facility for skeletal remains was financed,
and the first phase of construction was completed at the premises of Puebla’s forensic science department so that unidentified skeletal remains can be properly preserved.
719 relatives of missing people
and mental health personnel from state institutions took part in 15 activities to raise awareness about psychosocial and mental health needs associated with the disappearance of a loved one.
94 relatives belonging to 26 associations of families of missing people
took part in 6 workshops held in Guerrero, Chihuahua, Jalisco and Veracruz, at which guidance was provided on the Missing Persons Act and organizational strengthening, among other things.
20 relatives belonging to family associations
in the states of Mexico and Veracruz received training on psychosocial support tools and how to use them, with a view to them helping other relatives.
38 mental health specialists from Jalisco and Veracruz
received training to provide psychosocial support to the relatives of missing people and accompany them at particularly difficult moments in the forensic identification process.
56 relatives of missing people
in Jalisco received support from mental health personnel trained by the ICRC.

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