Families of missing people demand help from Mexican govt.

Record ID: 1687341

  • Title: Families of missing people demand help from Mexican govt.
  • Date: 31st August 2022
  • Summary: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (AUGUST 30, 2022) (REUTERS) PEOPLE AT REPORT PRESENTATION EVENT (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MEXICAN TOP HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICIAL, ALEJANDRO ENCINAS, SAYING: "We'll keep on working hardly so that the national search commission and the local commissions can work. We'll create the human identification centre, which we hope will open towards the end of the year. That is a proposal done by the families (eds note: refers to relatives of missing people). We will keep on strengthening the forensic education extraordinary mechanism. We will keep on building, along with the families and victims, all of these instruments and we'll implement the actions they proposed." PEOPLE ONSTAGE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FOUNDER OF FUERZAS UNIDAS POR NUESTROS DESAPARECIDOS EN NUEVO LEON (FUNDEL), MOTHER OF DISAPPEARED MAN ROY RIVERA, LETICIA HIDALGO, SAYING: "No one should disappear in Mexico nor anywhere in the world. There are 105,000 people who are missing. Half of those happened during the current administration. They (eds note: refers to government officials) cannot say that there are no disappearances during this government, or that they are doing things to prevent them." VARIOUS OF AUDIENCE AT CONFERENCE PEOPLE APPLAUDING
  • Embargoed: 14th September 2022 01:18
  • Keywords: Human Rights United Nations forced disappearance
  • Location: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO / GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
  • City: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO / GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: South America / Central America,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA005166830082022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Mexican human rights groups and relatives of people who have gone missing marked the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances on Tuesday (August 30), calling for authorities to take bigger steps to fight kidnappings and hold perpetrators accountable.
    Drone footage shot near the iconic Angel of Independence monument showed giant words forming a sign reading "Where are they?"
    Meanwhile, at a panel also in Mexico City on Tuesday, victims' relatives and agencies representatives complained about the lack of justice and ineffectiveness to address the issue.
    Through a video message, the United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet, pointed out the impunity embedded in these crimes and said Mexico "needs to review its security model."
    Mexico’s top human rights official Alejandro Encinas recognised the actions taken by the government to address this problem haven't worked and said they will keep on cooperating with the families to improve the situation.
    The Founder of Fuerzas Unidas por Nuestros Desaparecidos en Nuevo Leon (FUNDEL), Leticia Hidalgo, whose son has been missing since 2011, said the government needs to work harder and take real measures in the matter.
    This month has seen some progress in one of the country's most notorious cases, as a top prosecutor was arrested and charged in connection with the disappearance of 43 students in 2014, which the government now considers a state crime.
    But with 52,000 unidentified bodies and 105,000 people reported missing - 5,000 of those added since last May - activists are saying the current progress is not enough.
    (Production: Alberto Fajardo, Nina Lopez)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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