More than 5,000 people missing in Mexico

[News_Editor]

More than 5,000 people missing in Mexico

2011-04-03 21:59:48 GMT+7 (ICT)

MEXICO CITY (BNO NEWS) -- Mexico's human rights commission said that more than 5,000 people have disappeared in the country since President Felipe Calderón began the fight against organized crime, La Jornada newspaper reported Sunday.

The report from the National Commission on Human Rights reported that from 2006 to 2011, it recorded a total of 5,397 people who have been reported "missing or absent." The commission said that 3,457 were men and 1,885 women, while there was no data provided on 55 cases.

The data collected is provided by relatives. The information also includes victims of kidnapping and economic migrants whose whereabouts are unknown.

The report has been criticized by various national organizations since the figures are not separated in specific categories. They argue that the fact that it doesn't differentiate between forced disappearances and missing person cases downplays the issue of disappearances.

The commission also reported that 8,898 bodies were not identified or their causes of death were not clarified.

The publication of the report comes two days after the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances suggested to the Mexican government to withdraw the army from the war against drug cartels since it is not trained to do public security tasks. In addition, the presence of the army has led to increasing cases of forced disappearances.

More than 30,000 people have died in drug-related violence since President Calderón declared the war on drug cartels in December 2006.

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