The International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances was commemorated on August 30. This year is the first in which the United Nations (UN) officialy observed this commemoration in virtue of resolution A/RES/65/209 adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 21, 2010 and based on previous recommendations of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances of the UN (WGEID).

The Working Group visited Mexico from 18 to 31 March 2011 "to examine the status of the investigations of old and recent cases, steps taken to prevent and eradicate enforced disappearances, what is being done to combat impunity, and other issues, including matters concerning truth, justice and reparations for victims of enforced disappearances."

Its members, independent experts, visited several areas of the country, including the state of Guerrero. In the town of Atoyac de Alvarez they heard testimonies of the relatives of dissapeared persons in the 1970's and 1980 and verified the lack of compliance with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in the case of Rosendo Radilla. In December 2009, the IACHR issued its ruling against the Mexican state in the case of Rosendo Radilla, who disappeared after being detained at a military checkpoint in August 1974.

The WGEID will work on a report with the information obtained to be presented to the Human Rights Council at a meeting on 2012. In its preliminary recommendations include, among others, "consider the withdrawal, within a short timeframe, of military forces from public security operations and criminal law enforcement as a measure to prevent enforced disappearances." or "guarantee secure conditions for journalists and all human rights defenders, including those that act against enforced disappearances and defend the rights of victims. In particular, the adoption of a national system for the protection of human rights defenders is recommended."

The Universal Periodic Review to Mexico in 2009 resulted in similar recommendations regarding the enforced disappearances. Two years after the implementation of this evaluation mechanism of the UN on human rights, the Mexican Network of Human Rights Organizations Todos los Derechos para Todos y Todas (Red TdT) published last June <media 8019>México, a dos años del Examen Periódico Universal. Balance del cumplimiento de las recomendaciones emitidas por el Consejo de Derechos Humanos de la ONU</media> (Mexico, two years after the Universal Periodic Review. Balance of compliance with the recommendations issued by the Human Rights Council of the UN"), available only in Spanish.

The report highlights recommendations that the government has not accepted as the effective investigation of past crimes by restoring the Prosecutor against past social and political movements (known by its Spanish acronym FEMOSPP), dissolved in 2006. It also demonstrates that despite the Mexican government saying the General Coordination of Research Attorney (CGI) part of the Attorney General's (PGR) would take over the work of the Special Prosecutor, preliminary investigations have not made any significant progress.

As to the UPR recommendations accepted by the Mexican government concerning the enforced disappearances(1), Red TdT notes that WGEID "again recommended the Mexican government to ensure that the crime of enforced disappearances is included in the criminal codes of all entities states and that they soon pass a General Law on enforced or involuntary disappearances."(2)

Moreover, on 23 December, 2010 the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance came into force, four years after its adoption by the General Assembly following the ratification of the twenty-first State, Brazil. It is worth mentioning that the Mexican government has ratified both this and the Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons.

PBI accompanies Tita Radilla, vice president of the Association of Relatives of the Disappeared and Victims of Violations of Human Rights in Mexico (AFADEM) since August 2003. The organization belongs to the American Federation of Associations of Disappeared Detainees (FEDEFAM).

Read more

Full text of the preliminary observations and recommendatios od the WGEID

PBI accompaniment to Tita Radilla

Download a summary of the Radilla Sentence (PDF version).

Official documentation of the Universal Periodic Review

(1) UPR recommendations: 24. Continue promoting the bill on enforced disappearances (Colombia), and 25. Extend to other federative entities, the categorization of the crime of “forced disappearance” and the full compensation mechanism for victims and members of their families (Uruguay).

(2) México, a dos años del Examen Periódico Universal. Balance del cumplimiento de las recomendaciones emitidas por el Consejo de Derechos Humanos de la ONU; Red TdT, June 2011.