Mexico City, Paris, 13 June 2025. In Mexico, the disappearance of women and girls is a devastating and, sadly, increasingly common reality, as illustrated by the case of Isabel [1], a 31-year-old woman from Acapulco (Guerrero), who vanished without a trace in November 2019. Despite her family immediately reporting her disappearance to the authorities, investigators told them to wait 72 hours before filing a report, even though a prompt response is crucial in such cases. Not only did they delay the opening of the investigation, but the investigators also made insulting, stigmatising, and discriminatory remarks to the family. They implied that she might have run off with a boyfriend or been involved in illegal activities linked to organised crime. Shortly after filing the report, her mother received the first of many anonymous threatening calls. To this day, the family has received no support—psychological, financial, or legal. This case is far from an exception; rather, it exemplifies the normalisation of the disappearance of women and girls in Mexico. Meanwhile, the authorities appear indifferent to a phenomenon that has become systemic.
As highlighted by FIDH, IDHEAS, and EMAF in their technical note dated 26 March 2025, the disappearances of women and girls in Mexico are not isolated incidents. They extend across the entire country, particularly affecting states such as Guerrero, where organised crime is heavily present, and the State of Mexico, a strategic hub for human trafficking.
Official data confirms the scale of the crisis: of the 128,426 people reported missing in Mexico between 1952 and 12 May 2025, 29,569 are women, accounting for nearly 23% of all disappearances. The sharp rise in the number of disappearances of women and girls in recent years is particularly alarming: in 2024 alone, 3,601 women were reported missing or unlocated across the country—an increase of more than 40% compared to the previous year.
A widespread phenomenon, rooted in a patriarchal culture and fuelled by impunity
As revealed in the report "Who is looking for us? Who is protecting us?", published in November 2024 on the State of Mexico, the disappearances of women and girls are frequently linked to trafficking networks for the purpose of sexual exploitation. In many cases, women are not forcibly abducted but rather recruited through social media or apps, using emotional manipulation tactics that gradually isolate them from their families or social circles. Organised crime networks often target women in marginalised situations that make them more vulnerable to entrapment. Nonetheless, Mexican authorities continue to interpret these disappearances as "voluntary absences", despite evidence of coercion and impaired consent, and routinely close cases prematurely without thorough investigations or a gender-sensitive approach.
This inertia is part of a broader context marked by a patriarchal and sexist culture, in which violence against women is often treated as a "private matter". As early as 2018, the CEDAW Committee urged Mexico to overcome gender stereotypes and adopt a comprehensive prevention strategy [2]. Yet, to this day, the measures implemented by the Mexican State remain inadequate. This hampers a proper understanding of the issue and fosters impunity, allowing those responsible for disappearances and trafficking to operate with minimal consequences—thus perpetuating a cycle of structural violence.
Persistent violations of the CEDAW Convention due to the Mexican State’s lack of effective and holistic measures
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (hereinafter the "Convention" or "CEDAW Convention") is a universal reference instrument on women’s rights. It was adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly. Mexico is among the 189 countries that have ratified the Convention, having done so in 1981. Since then, it has been formally committed to adopting all necessary measures to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women in every sphere, including political, economic, social, cultural, and civil life.
To enable the evaluation of the implementation of the Convention at the national level, States Parties are required to submit a report to the Committee every four years. This report must address all the measures they "have adopted to give effect to the provisions of the Convention". The Committee reviews these reports, issues a list of questions concerning problematic issues, and then provides recommendations to the States Parties. In doing so, Committee members also rely on alternative reports prepared by non-governmental organisations, which provide an independent assessment of the situation of women’s rights in the respective country.
Within this framework, FIDH, IDHEAS, and EMAF submitted an alternative report in 2023. This report highlighted the seriousness of the disappearances of women and girls in the federal state of Guerrero, emphasising the urgent need to address this issue before the Committee. This alert was taken into account by the Committee, which requested the Mexican State to detail the measures adopted to urgently prevent violent deaths, femicides, and disappearances, particularly in the states of Mexico, Tamaulipas, Jalisco, and Guerrero [3].
In response, the Mexican State submitted, in its tenth periodic report to the CEDAW Committee, a series of measures it has implemented [4]. For example, it mentions the creation of training centres dedicated to various protocols concerning missing persons and key international instruments. The objective is to raise awareness about disappearances and promote the application of a gender perspective in search processes. The report also refers to the development, by the National Search Commission, of comprehensive strategies to locate missing persons, support families, and coordinate investigations through a verified national registry linked with local commissions and prosecutors’ offices. Furthermore, the State highlighted the existence of a standardised search protocol that ensures institutional coordination, as well as the adoption in May 2023 of a national strategy for widespread search efforts by the government, supported by the three levels of administration, aiming to strengthen inter-institutional collaboration.
Insufficient actions in the face of the scale of the phenomenon
However, the information gathered by our organisations shows that these actions are insufficient given the scale and complexity of the phenomenon. Therefore, on 19 May 2025, FIDH, IDHEAS, and EMAF submitted another alternative report to the CEDAW Committee. This report provides the Committee with a detailed analysis of multiple violations of the CEDAW Convention, particularly concerningArticles 1, 2, 5, 6, and 15, as well asGeneral Recommendations Nos. 19, 28, 33, and 35 of the Committee, attributable to the Mexican authorities.
This report highlights systemic obstacles to access to justice: the failure to recognise victim status in the absence of physical violence; discriminatory practices during the intake of complaints; lack of institutional coordination in investigations, especially when there are signs of trafficking; and the absence of holistic, multidisciplinary investigations with a differential and gender-based approach. The information gathered by our organisations also reveals the collusion of municipal police officers or local officials, who are sometimes directly involved in criminal networks or responsible for obstructing justice. In this regard, the CEDAW Committee recently recognised the international responsibility of the Mexican State in a case involving the disappearance of a young woman and the alleged complicity of public agents [5].
Moreover, while in 2018 the CEDAW Committee urged the Mexican State to "investigate, prosecute, and appropriately sanction those responsible" for gender-based violence [6], impunity remains the norm. In 2021, only between 2% and 6% of disappearance cases nationwide were subject to judicial proceedings, and in some states such as Guerrero, no convictions had been handed down for the disappearance of a woman as of 2023.
In light of the scale of the phenomenon and the inadequacy of state responses, FIDH, IDHEAS, and EMAF call on the CEDAW Committee to issue firm and specific recommendations. The Committee must demand the urgent implementation of effective and coordinated measures to prevent and sanction gender-based violence, with particular focus on the disappearances and trafficking of women and girls. Furthermore, it is essential to promote long-term strategies aimed at transforming the structures that perpetuate the patriarchal and sexist culture in the country.
The three signatory organisations will be present at the 91st session of the CEDAW Committee, supported by the Feminist Opportunities Now (FON) programme. We will intervene on several occasions to present our recommendations and highlight the lack of effective institutional responses from the Mexican authorities.
Women and girls have the right to live free from violence and in safety in Mexico. In the face of such a serious and persistent phenomenon, coordinated and effective action by the authorities is essential. Isabel and the thousands of other victims must be found to ensure justice, truth, reparation, and non-repetition.