Thousands of migrants from Mexico and neighboring countries trying to cross the border with the USA are increasingly subjected to gross human rights violations, including enforced disappearances. According to government estimations, over 26’000 people have gone missing since 2006.
Since 2012, a wave of enforced disappearances is taking place in the so-called “war on drugs and organized crime”. Migrants from Latin American countries are particularly exposed.
The fate of most of these victims remains unknown. Mexican authorities have failed to search for them efficiently and to identify, investigate, prosecute and sanction those responsible. Relatives have received neither support nor reparations and a state of rampant impunity prevails.
The fate of most of these victims, both from the “dirty war” and the recent era, remains unknown. Mexican authorities have failed to search for them efficiently and to identify, investigate, prosecute and sanction those responsible. Relatives have received neither support nor compensation and a state of rampant impunity prevails.
What does TRIAL International do in Mexico?
Since 2009, TRIAL International works with several organizations to raise awareness on this crime and denounce the failure of Mexican authorities to prevent it and to bring the perpetrators before justice. It is one of the few NGOs to document enforced disappearances of migrants from other Latin American states, disappearing in Mexico while seeking to reach the USA.
Together with its partner Fundación para la Justicia y el Estado democrático de derechoand a coalition of Latin American organizations, TRIAL International regularly produces reports to the United Nations. These reports offer a snapshot of ongoing issues and cases, and proposes concrete steps towards improvement.
In 2009, TRIAL International and the World Organization against Torture jointly submitted a brief to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights regarding a case of torture and extrajudicial execution in Ciudad Juárez. In its judgment, the Court followed almost all the arguments put forward in the brief.
