CIVICUS discusses enforced disappearances in Mexico with a member of the International Network of Associations of Missing Persons. The crisis of disappearances in Mexico has reached alarming proportions more than 52,000 unidentified bodies in morgues and mass graves. On July 1, the Mexican Congress approved the controversial proposal changes to the General Law on Disappearances, which promises to modernize the search process through a national biometric system, but which human rights organizations and victims’ groups claim could create an unprecedented system of mass surveillance.
The changes are intended to strengthen the mechanisms for searching, locating and identifying missing persons. Key innovations include the creation of a National Investigation File Database and a Single Identity Platform that will integrate various databases. The revised law also provides for the strengthening of the Unique Population Registration Code (CURP) through the integration of biometric data such as iris scans, photos and fingerprints.
The law obliges authorities and individuals to provide information useful for search processes and integrates new institutions such as the National Guard and the Ministry of Security into the National Search System. It also increases penalties for the crime of enforced disappearance.
The new system aims to ensure faster and more efficient searches through technology and inter-institutional coordination. It also provides for the use of satellite images and advanced identification technologies, under the coordination of the National Search System.
What risks does authorities’ access to biometric data entail?
There are serious concerns that the changes will give security and justice institutions, including prosecutors’ offices, the National Guard and the National Intelligence Center, immediate and unrestricted access to public and private databases, including databases containing biometric information. The official argument is that this will speed up the search.
However, civil society warns that the Single Identity Platform and biometric CURP could become tools of mass surveillance. There are fears that authorities could misuse the information and, instead of helping find missing people, use it to control the population, endangering rights to privacy and security.
How have the victims’ groups responded?
Victims’ collectives have rejected the reform as opaque and hasty. They complain that although roundtable discussions were organised, they were purely symbolic and their proposals were not taken into account.
The families of missing persons argue that the changes focus on technological solutions that do not address the underlying structural problems of corruption, cronyism, organized crime and impunity. But no technological solution will work as long as the institutions responsible for abuse and cover-up remain responsible for its implementation.
This law risks repeating the mistakes of the 2017 General Law on Enforced Disappearances. This was an important step forward as it criminalized the crime, created a national search system and guaranteed the participation of families in locating and identifying missing persons. Unfortunately, it was never properly implemented. There are fears that, in the absence of effective enforcement mechanisms, this new law will only increase frustration and perpetuate impunity.
What alternatives do victim groups propose?
Their demands go beyond changes in legislation: they demand truth and justice through thorough investigations, the prosecution of those responsible in state institutions and organized crime groups and an effective search on the ground, with the coordination and active participation of victim groups.
The collectives also emphasize the urgency of identifying the more than 52,000 unnamed people in morgues and mass graves, and call for the establishment of an extraordinary forensic identification mechanism. And they demand real protection for those searching for their relatives, who continue to face threats and attacks.
Above all, they demand an end to impunity by dismantling the networks of corruption and collusion between authorities and organized crime. As one local activist summarized, without a real National Plan for Missing Persons, none of this will ultimately work. Each state also needs its own plan. Otherwise we will remain in the same situation: without results, without reports and without answers about our disappearances.
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